This week's contest is to show a bird with a human-made object. My choice was to showcase the Tree Swallows at a local park. There are nesting boxes which the swallows move into each year to nest. The boxes are at the top of a hill in a little meadow surrounded by tidal marshes. Great place for sun and insects! Perfect for growing baby Tree Swallows.
Here is the male on top of the nest post, waiting for his female to approve of his location. I'm hoping to go see them again this year. It's been a while old friends.
And here he is again inside the box on another day with a little scuff and dirt on his face. Busy building the nest inside it looks like! Tree swallows are one of the species that now uses human-made nest boxes almost exclusively. In the past they would use tree hollows (thus their name) made by woodpeckers, etc. They are cavity nesters.
And for fun, here is a bird that is not content with just taking any old human box. The Southern Masked Weaver! Weaver birds create their own nests in great colonies all hanging from trees in Africa. I saw this one in South Africa :)
