Barn Swallows: Winning the battle, losing the war

As you may recall, I was successful in convincing the local barn swallows that our porches were sub-optimal for nest placement. That battle was messy and frustrating for both sides, as battles always are, and neither side emerged feeling entirely satisfied with the outcome.

During the aftermath, it became obvious that barn swallows are masters of turning lemons into lemonade. They also subscribe to the strategy of victory through overwhelming numbers. And so it is I find that even though I’ve successfully stopped them from building nests, they’ve created more holes in the dike than I have fingers.

Our next-door neighbor recently counted more than forty of the little birds perched along the eave of her back porch. That should give you an idea of the magnitude of the issue. A number of that gang has decided that our back and front porches provide excellent overnight accommodations, even if they can’t erect apartment complexes for permanent residence. As it turns out, they’ve decided that the steps that I took to dissuade the nest-building (stuffing rolled-up shop towels behind ceiling-mounted speakers, for example) provide perfectly cozy places to spend the night.

Now, let me be clear: barn swallows are very cute birds, and entertaining to watch. They do a great job of mosquito control, and they don’t bother other birds (unlike the house finches who bully the hummingbirds trying to service our feeders). But the concept of – how can I put this delicately? – “not fouling one’s own nest” is completely foreign to them. In other words, we can always tell how many overnighted by the mess they left on the concrete below.

I’m now taking suggestions for further countermeasures. Regarding the speakers, it’s obvious that I’ll need to build a solid enclosure of some type around them. The porch eaves pose a bigger challenge. But if my idea for a tiny little electric fence works out, you’ll be the first to know.

3 comments

  1. My brother in law in Austin had a similar problem and a painter told him to paint the roof of the porch sky blue. The birds think it’s open sky and won’t build nests. It’s working for him.

  2. Eric, I’ve heard the blue paint theory, too. I found out that if you go shoo them off after dark they won’t come back that night. Just have to do it every night!. We didn’t have ours this year after I put cans in their nests. Guess they decided the barn was better.

  3. I would like to think that our birds are more intelligent than to fall for the old “blue porch ceiling” trick, which sounds like something out of a Roadrunner cartoon.
    Because if they’re not, then that makes me pretty dumb because they’re outsmarting me at every turn!
    Alice, I do know for a fact that you can stop doves from roosting overnight by going out just after they’ve bedded down and clapping a couple of 2x4s together. It takes just two or three nights of interrupting their sleep and they look for quieter quarters.

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