Been out of state and catching up, still--here's a lengthy late response to
Bob's inquiry about swallows in western Ross County, south central Ohio (and
more peregrine speculations):

Northern Rough-winged Swallows nest on the face of the Copperas Mountain
shale outcrop Bob introduced in his post, below. This is the largest
continuous Ohio Shale outcrop in Ohio and I urge Listserv readers to put a
visit on your southern Ohio itinerary next time you plan a trip through the
area. Just Mapquest Paint Valley High School, you can't miss the huge
exposure southeast of there. I don't recommend close approach unless you
drive a four-wheel drive vehicle--the road along the base is usually poorly
maintained due to frequent rockslides. Route 50, etc. through Paint Valley
is a great scenic drive during the third week of October. While you are in
the area, visit Buzzard's Roost Preserve--the one west of Chillicothe--for
more spectacular views of beautiful wild Ohio.

Some geology:
This is a fascinating place! Towers of Huron Member Ohio Shale form ramparts
rising from eroding Paint Creek through the crumbly formation to nearly
vertical Cleveland Member Ohio Shale and topping-out in the Bedford Shale
formation overtopping it. Climbing on the loose shale is not a good
idea--it's dangerous and the local deputies are tired of rescuing errant
beer-drinkers emboldened to climb beyond their ability. Climbing bugs the
swallows, too. Bob's climbing in 1981 is excused as necessary for research.
My climbing back in the day--well, I was an adventurous kid wanting a
peregrine's vista (not a beer-drinker):-) You will see tens of swallows if
they are still hanging out there this season.

Swallow geoecology:
Streamside stretches of cliff-forming Ohio Shale through central Ohio from
Portsmouth to Cleveland hold nesting Rough-winged Swallows, based on my
personal observations. Herein may be a geoecological relationship resulting
from the nature of shale weathering peculiar to the highly organic Ohio
Shale commonly forming small temporary shallow cavities on shale faces of
this formation. Of course, N. Rough-winged Swallows use many microhabitats,
even tile drains in spillways of many reservoirs.

Peregrines:
I will speculate that native Ohio breeding peregrines (if such existed, and
in south central OH, before settlement) may have used the tops of the Huron
Member ramparts mentioned earlier. These are not typical eyrie ledges, but
these might have served peregrine purposes from time to time (I observed
many eyries closely and rappelled down to a number of them to band young
during research activities in Greenland back during the years when Bob was
doing his energy research). The ramparts are excellent perching vantage
points for seeing prey a long way away! Some terminate in level spots that
would take a nest scrape and hold eggs and downy young, and spectacular
"kakking" brooding falcons.

Tom Bain
Formerly of The Glaciated Allegheny Plateau
Ross County, Ohio



-----Original Message-----
From: Ohio birds [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
[log in to unmask]
Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 2:27 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Ohio-birds] Swallows, "natural nests," etc.

A few stray thoughts prompted by recent (and welcome) use of the listserv as
a forum for discussions -

Re: humankind's tendency for the removal of dead trees - We don't do this
(at least not indiscriminately) at our farm on Flint Ridge in western
Muskingum County. As a result, we regularly see or hear five woodpecker
species on our fifty seven acres, comprised of upland pastures and fields
surrounded by forested ravines. Jane and I are celebrating the tenth
anniversary of our rural experiment - we moved from the campus area of
Columbus to rural Muskingum County in July of 2000. Shortly after that I
read a couple of David Kline's books, Scratching the Woodchuck, and Great
Possessions (I think that's the title.) For those who are unaware of these
works, Kline is an Holmes County Amish farmer, a keen observer of nature,
and a practitioner of traditional living with and within nature. His words
steered me toward harvesting only dead ironwood (American hophornbeam) and
slippery (red) elm, which are little used by birds, burn well, and are amply
available on my property. Other species are left alone, unless they fall in
the way of a trail or other function. Thus the assorted downy, hairy,
red-bellied, and pileated woodpeckers, as well as the flickers have plenty
of raw material for their lifestyle.

Bluebirds and tree swallows must use natural cavities for nesting and
roosting. I've caught them at it a few times. I maintain (somewhat) a seven
box "bluebird trail," although my frequent and repeated business travel
makes this a challenge at times. The past couple years I have had to concede
the boxes at the top of the horse-pasture hill to house sparrows. But this
spring we had two bluebird nests and two tree swallow nests in the boxes. We
have more tree swallows than this, so they must be nesting in woodpecker
excavations somewhere. In 2006 I had a "natural" bluebird nest in a snag,
now fallen due to the passage of time.

Barn swallows are also around this June-July in impressive numbers. I was
mowing the pastures last week. For those of you who cringe about the evils
of mowing, I will inform you that I thoroughly surveyed those portions of
the pastures first, and I found no nesting activity. I maintain a number of
wild acres in the fields that are not fenced for pasture, and the blade
never finds them for successional management before late July or August.
Anyway, when I was mowing I was repeatedly strafed by at least nine barn
swallows and two tree swallows. We don't have barn swallows nesting in our
horse barn this year, although we have had a single nest in that barn the
previous two years. They must be using someone else's structure, but they
sure came calling as soon as they heard the brush hog - easy pickings in its
wake I reckon. I figure that the barn swallows were at least two adult pairs
and some of their recent fledges.

I have long puzzled over the possibility of a hollow beech, sycamore or
other tree hosting chimney swifts. I have swifts around my farm, but I don't
know where they nest.

Comments about barn swallows nesting on the leftover highwalls of limestone
quarries got me to thinking and reminiscing. There are few natural cliffs of
any substantial size in Ohio. One such structure is Copperas Mountain, on
the south "bank" of Paint Creek in western Ross County. Years ago (1981) I
was doing a geological survey of the Ohio Shale (actually an eastern oil
shale) for the Ohio Department of Energy (shortly thereafter absorbed by the
Dept. of Development.) As part of that survey I recall spending a couple
hours assessing and measuring the exposure of the shale at the Copperas
Mountain location. I remember that there were "swallows" in some numbers on
that cliff, although I don't recall what kind. I wasn't particularly tuned
in to birds at that point in my life (for whatever reasons I don't know) but
someone should check it out. Who has that block for OBBA? I know that Tom
Bain will be familiar with the location.

As for the use of this listserv as a forum, I have never shied away from
this as long as the subject of discussion pertains legitimately to Ohio
birds. When the subject strays from this, and gets a little controversial or
political, I resort to opening or participating in a thread of the Ohio
Birding Forum reachable through the OOS website. In general I find
discussions on the Ohio Birding Forum to be a little less satisfying because
there are far fewer readers and participants than there are on this "forum,"
but at least it is available. If you care to read my thoughts on grassland
mowing, or bag limits on rails you can read them there. The threads therein
seem to stay available ad infinitum.

Bob Evans
Geologist, Historian, Curator
Hopewell Township, Muskingum County, and Lake Forest, CA

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______________________________________________________________________

Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society.
Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list.
Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/.

You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at:
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