Other folks, who have forgotten more than I will ever know about raptors, have wondered aloud what would prevent every little Ohio town with a church steeple or a window ledge on a tall building having a pair of peregrine falcons. Kenn accurately describes the havoc peregrines, showing up at new times of the year, cause among flocks of migrating shorebirds here. Others have pointed out the depredations their unprecedented new nesting populations have caused among scarce short-eared owls and endangered piping plovers along the Atlantic coast, in places where indigenous peregrines are not known to have nested before. I have posted diatribes about introduced falcons and their effects on native birds on this forum before; I can send copies to anyone interested, but will not repeat them now. Suffice it to say the peregrine introduction projects have had some unanticipated and very unfortunate side-effects. One thought I've had about the shifts in nesting sites for swifts and swallows over the past century or more is that we humans now remove dead trees from the landscape. They are regarded as untidy and a sign of neglect, as widow-makers and eyesores. Yet in a state of nature they were a prominent part of the natural scene, for all the species Kenn mentions. See Audubon's account of the swift at http://www.audubon.org/bird/boa/boa_index.html . Trautman in his "Birds of Western Lake Erie" mentions having seen them nesting in large sycamores, as Audubon had, "in at least four years since 1922." I haven't heard of any natural purple martin nests here since the early 1900s--has anyone else? Cliff swallows seem to be adapting more often: a hundred years ago they were called "eave swallows," and nested underneath eaves of barns, while barn swallows occupied the inside. For many subsequent decades they were rare outside areas, such as in Amish country, where traditional barns were present, but in recent decades their populations have exploded as they've adapted to bridges. I have seen over a thousand nests on the Rte 2 bridge south of Huron, and they probably have occupied every bridge on the Scioto River from Columbus to Portsmouth since then. I guess the big question is what happens to species that have adapted to temporary artificial nest sites, like chimneys, or wooden barns, or martin boxes. Will they adapt and find new sites as we humans eliminate these sites? History proves that some species do, and some don't. Naturally, we humans feel at fault when our changes to the landscape are to blame. The question is how far we will stretch the adaptability of these bird species that have become dependent on our inadvertent assistance. Bill Whan Kenn Kaufman wrote: > I agree with Bill Whan that it would be a fine thing to see more actual > discussion on Ohio-birds, and I have no idea why such discussion doesn't > take place. A few times I have posted things that I hoped would spark some > discussion, and in those cases I have usually gotten some private responses > but often no public responses on the listserve. Seems a little odd. > > Regarding the Peregrine introductions to urban sites, in areas where they > had not been known to nest historically -- I am uneasy about that practice. > Sure, we all love Peregrines and love to see them, and a few isolated pairs > out of place probably don't have too much impact on the ecosystem, but > still > ... A couple of years ago I was going out repeatedly to the "sky ponds" > east-southeast of Fremont during mid to late summer, when that area had big > numbers of shorebirds. It seemed that every time I focused on a big > shorebird concentration, a Peregrine would make a pass and flush all the > birds. Historically it would have been exceptionally rare for a Peregrine > to be around this area in early August, but now the urban birds from > downtown Toledo probably make the rounds of all the shorebird spots in n.w. > Ohio every day during peak season, repeatedly flushing the birds and adding > one more bit of stress to populations that are already facing a variety of > challenges. > > Regarding birds that are shifting, or have shifted, to nesting on manmade > structures: I've always been fascinated by this phenomenon. Chimney Swift > is a prime example: their propensity for nesting in chimneys was already > well established two centuries ago. Purple Martin is a bird that goes both > ways: populations in eastern North America practically all nest in houses > put up for them, but in the Southwest they still nest commonly in natural > cavities. Barn Swallow is another bird that has adapted to our structures > in a big way. In years of birding around North America I had seen Barn > Swallow nests in barns, of course, and on porches, in sheds, under bridges, > in culverts, etc., but until a couple of years ago I'd never seen a Barn > Swallow nest in anything that could be considered a "natural" site. When I > got to visit West Sister Island out in Lake Erie, I was impressed by a lot > of things about this federally-designated wilderness area (the only one in > Ohio?), but one of the impressive small things was the presence of Barn > Swallows nesting on the cliffs on the east side of the island. The cliffs > have enough of an overhang that the nest sites appear to be protected from > the elements. It seemed like a hint of the kinds of situations the > swallows > would have used before we so thoughtfully provided all these structures for > them. > > I would be interested to know: Has anyone found Barn Swallows nesting in > truly natural situations elsewhere in Ohio? What about Purple Martin or > Chimney Swift? > > Kenn Kaufman > Oak Harbor, Ohio ______________________________________________________________________ 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: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]