Campaign results in promise to build new structure for Barn Swallows

Administrator | Feb 28, 2024 | Comments 28

UPDATE FEB. 28: The work of local naturalists and support of the public has resulted in a commitment by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) to erect a Barn Swallow alternate nesting structure at the site of the former nesting shed at Point Traverse by March 31.

Cheryl Anderson reports the culmination of the campaign during the past week by members and supporters of Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN), Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory (PEPtBO) and South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI).

“Although we were unable to save the nesting shed, our work had a positive result with the commitment from CWS to build the alternate nesting structure immediately,” said Anderson, SSJI vice-president. “The work of our three organizations over the weekend raised awareness about these iconic aerial insectivores. Now more people will appreciate their importance to biodiversity and the web of life. Thank you to everyone who wrote and called Minister Guilbeault.”

The Canadian Wildlife Service removed the Barn Swallow nesting shed on Feb. 27 as part of plans to remove all the remaining buildings of the fishing village that existed at Point Traverse since the 19th century.

“The new alternate nesting structure will follow the design of those proven to be effective in other locations in
Ontario,” said Anderson. “Barn Swallows are a species at risk listed as Threatened federally and Special Concern in Ontario.

“Adults show fidelity to breeding sites by commonly reusing the same nest. The number of old nests at a site at the start of the breeding season is also thought to serve as an important cue for young birds selecting their initial breeding location” At least seven pairs of Barn Swallows traditionally have used the Point Traverse shed.”

The South Shore Joint Initiative is a volunteer run, non-profit registered Canadian charity with a mission to educate and advocate for the protection, preservation and restoration of South Shore lands and waters in Prince Edward County.

Click here to learn more about the species

Barn Swallow on Sumac – photograph by Ian Barker

Canadian Wildlife Service demolished swallows’ nesting area

UPDATE FEB. 27: Shed demolished

CWS plans to demolish Barn Swallows’ nesting shed

County supporters of nature have learned the Canadian Wildlife Service plans to demolish a shed that is the nesting habitat of at least seven pairs of Barn Swallows at Prince Edward Point.

Environmental organizations from Prince Edward County and area are appealing to Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change to stop the demolition of the last Barn Swallow nesting habitat in Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area.

The Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) has announced intention to remove all the buildings in the NWA in the week starting Feb. 26. The buildings are the remnants of the fishing village that has existed at Point Traverse since the nineteenth century. One Prince Edward County family is still actively involved in the commercial fishery from Point Traverse. The edict from the CWS means that the shed used as nesting habitat will be destroyed along with the remaining fishing village buildings.

Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN), South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI) and Prince
Edward Point Bird Observatory (PEPtBO) along with Field Naturalist organizations from Belleville
and Kingston are rallying their supporters this weekend.

The organizations reminded representatives from CWS about the opportunity to create a safe and effective habitat for Barn Swallows at a meeting on Friday, Feb. 23. However, they were unsuccessful in their appeal. The current campaign is launched as a result.

“We need everyone to appeal to the Minister to stop this inhumane destruction of habitat of a species at risk” asserts SSJI vice president Cheryl Anderson.

The shed. – Cheryl Anderson photo

“Barn Swallows are a species-at-risk categorized as ‘Threatened’ federally and ‘Special Concern’ in Ontario,” says Anderson, citizen scientist and a member of all the County’s nature organizations including the SSJI South Shore Joint Initiative. “Demolishing the shed means the loss of habitat for up to 70 Barn Swallows. Barn Swallows may hatch as many as 10 young in a season with two broods.”

The shed is part of a former fishing village in the Prince Edward Point National Wildlife Area. At present, Anderson notes unsuccessful appeals have been made for rehabilitation and fencing of the shed to protect the swallows’ nesting habitat.

In contrast, says Anderson, about 30 kms away a local business – Quinte Isle Campark – successfully rehabilitated a similar shed resulting in continued use by Barn Swallows.

“We watched when Parks Canada destroyed Cliff Swallow nests while rehabilitating Point Traverse Lighthouse. Now the Canadian Wildlife Service plans to destroy the nesting habitat of Barn Swallows.”

Barn Swallow photograph by Ian Barker

These actions by government agencies, she notes, put paid to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change’s recent claims about the importance of birds as “the most accessible and effective indicators of the health of air, water, and land.”

In a press release Feb. 14 speaking to investment in open data for birds and biodiversity, minister Steven Guilbeault claims birds “are at the heart of Canada’s biodiversity and play an essential role in maintaining healthy, resilient ecosystems in communities.”

The release went on to state “Birds are the chorus to nature’s biodiversity. Embracing collaboration and making biodiversity-related data publicly available will lead to a deeper understanding of our environment as we continue making progress toward conserving 30 per cent of land, fresh water, and oceans in Canada by 2030. I am inspired by the leadership of communities, citizen scientists, and organizations such as Birds Canada, who are stepping up and working together to build a nature-positive future.”

Anderson, as a citizen scientist who has supported and been involved with avian research for decades, deplores the decision to destroy Barn Swallow nesting habitat when other easy options are available.

She is not alone.

Barker was among those who volunteered images when they were requested by Environment Canada to illustrate signage in the NWA a few years ago.

The County’s Ian Barker has also been writing the Canadian Wildlife Service in appeal on behalf of the Barn Swallows. Barker regularly photographs birds at the Long Point Harbour and all along the south shore and has been birding and boating there for more than 40 years.

“It is my understanding the intent is to ‘naturalize’ areas beyond the prominent ‘Keep Out’ signs by demolishing structures… removal of the shed beside the harbour near the boat launch and dock. I imagine that there is a way of circumventing regulations related to destroying nesting habitat if it is not in use, but removal of that shed will destroy the main nesting habitat for Barn Swallows in the Prince Edward Point Natural Wildlife Area (NWA).

Barker was among those who volunteered images when they were requested by Environment Canada to illustrate signage in the NWA a few years ago.

“With clearance of old growth trees and the attendant lost of cavities in which to nest, Barn Swallows adapted to human-built structures as nesting places, to the point that one such structure became a component of the common name,” Barker adds.

“Rather than destroy that shed, which is a vestige of the historic use of the harbour by fishers, it should be restored, with openings and inner structures such that it can continue to serve as swallow nesting habitat. It could also be signed, describing it as a physical relic of the commercial fishing community which long used the harbour, and is part of the cultural history of Prince Edward County South Shore.”

While well-intentioned, Barker notes the artificial Swallow House constructed near the banding station does not in any way match the shed by the dock in aesthetics, historical relevance, or function.

Barker, and others, remain angry Environment Canada and Parks Canada and have a sorry record of dealing the lighthouse.

“Restoration and preservation of the lighthouse should be a cultural priority for the south shore as well, and fortunately some effort finally was put into that by parks a few years ago. Unfortunately, in the course of the exercise, scores of Cliff Swallow nests were destroyed.

A few of the nests previous to restoration – Ian Barker photo

The swallows seem to be returning to the lighthouse, but slowly. The direct relevance to the NWA is that the Cliff Swallows depend on two or three large mud puddles that form in the parking lot adjacent to the boat launch for mud to build their nests.

“I was very concerned last fall to see that the parking lot by the boat launch/dock had been gravelled, and relieved that the depressions where the mud puddles form had not be filled in.

“If this area, which is about the boundary comprised of the Keep Out signs is to be ‘naturalized’, please realize that those depressions form a necessary seasonal nest-building resource for Cliff Swallows, and although no doubt the product of vehicle traffic over decades, are a necessary part of Cliff Swallow habitat in the NWA. They must be preserved.

Cliff Swallows mud frenzy – photograph by Ian Barker

“Populations of avian insectivores are in decline, in part because the man-made structures to which they adapted after tree cavities were largely eliminated by land-clearing and forestry, are now, in turn disappearing. It is ironic that with your attempts at ‘naturalization’ in the NWA, swallow habitat is being placed at risk or destroyed.”

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