Hello!

Last night on my commute home I had time to stop by the Algonquin Mill on SR 332 in Carroll Co. to watch the swallows and try to snap some in-flight photos, which I have had very little luck in accomplishing.  Anyway, I observed something very interesting and I want to know if anyone has seen anything like this before.

There was a mix of Barn Swallows and Tree Swallows working the meadow, with a pair of Tree Swallows going into nesting box #30 from time to time.  As I was waiting for a bird to return to the box to try to get a shot of it coming in for a landing (again, unsuccessful), I noticed a group of 3-4 birds that seemed to be trying to capture something flying in the mowed area adjacent to the meadow.  At first I thought it was a cicada, a good suspect in these parts right now, but I was quite wrong.

By the time I got oriented there were 3 birds clearly interacting.  2 were Barn Swallows and 1 was a Tree Swallow.  They were grabbing what appeared to be a very lightweight piece of paper, or down, or some kind of feather and carrying it in their bill, then dropping it.   When the object was floating down it would be grabbed by another bird who would carry it until another bird seemed to “tag” it and the object would be dropped and the game was on to see who maneuvered back around to grab it before it hit the ground.  If the object hit the ground, a bird would grab it and fly a bit higher up and drop it again.  This process went on for about 5 minutes, at least in front of me; I have no idea if the birds moved on behind me where I could not see their activity.  My first inclination was that this was most likely swallows teaching a young bird to capture insects on the wing.  I snapped several poor pictures of this activity and will be posting some of them on Birding Ohio and the Bobolink Area of Ohio Facebook pages for those interested in seeing the shots.  

I guess that some doubt entered my mind about the teaching bit when I realized that it was not just one species taking part in this activity, but perhaps that teaching instinct is not limited to just one species?  While I am always very, very cautious about anthropomorphizing behavior, I cannot shake that my impression at the time, and still to this moment, was that they were playing a game.  They looked as if they were having fun diving, banking, and out maneuvering each other.   Of course, games are educational in the natural world, so perhaps it is not a case of either/or, but maybe both/and.  

However folks come down on the theory as to what was going on there, it was a truly remarkable thing to have the privilege to witness.  

Jon Cefus
Carroll Co.  


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