Tree Swallow (NY2)

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Species: Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)
Location: Ithaca, NY
Status: Five Tree Swallows fledge!

	July 9 - FLEDGING DAY! The quarters are getting a little crammed for these 21- day old nestlings, and finally, it is time to fledge. Early this morning, the female is seen trying to coax the young birds out of the box. Within minutes, one of the nestlings takes its virgin flight. Tree Swallows are excellent flyers upon departure, although the first flight is usually a very short one. Four birds remain in the nest. One is perched on the hole and seemingly ready to go, another flies about the box. Three birds remaining, with one about to make its debut flight. Approximately three hours after the first nestling took flight, two birds remain in the nest, one leaves within 10 minutes. The last nestling stayed in the box alone for about 30 minutes before one of the parents peeked in, as if to say, "come on, its time to go". Another twenty minutes passes before the last nestling musters up the courage to sit on the entrance hole and emerge from the box. We hope you enjoyed viewing the rearing of this Tree Swallow family as much as we have enjoyed displaying it. Thanks for watching!
	July 7 - Three of the nestlings sit calmly and watch while one bird practices flying and the other perches itself on the entrance hole.
	July 6 - At 18 days old, the nestlings are becoming quite large as seen at left, appearing almost as large as the female inside the box. Below, one of the parents coaxes a nestling to the entrance hole for a meal.
	July 5 - It has often appeared as if there are only four nestlings in the box. This is because one of the young looks much smaller than the other four nestlings. Presumably the smallest nestling is the one that hatched a day after the other chicks. Greater hatching asynchrony (hatching within several days) has been associated with greater weight differences among nestlings.
	July 4 - It appears as thought the female is climbing the nest box walls, possibly in an attempt to show the nestlings what they will need to do to get out of the box. Four of the the five nestlings look on, while the other rests comfortably amongst them.
	July 3 - The 15-day old chicks, nestled together in the corner are reaching adult size and have attained the typical "bicolor" appearance. They could fledge the nest as early as tomorrow.
	July 2 - The male peers into the nest box and watches as the nestlings spread their wings and beg for food. Feeding visits will certainly decrease from now on.
	July 1 - The nestlings are now thirteen days old and make frequent trips to the entrance hole in search of their parents.
	June 29 - A nice shot of the female in her box. At 11 days old, the young birds enter their peak nourishment period—the week just before fledging.
	June 28 - The blurred image is a sure sign that the nestlings are much more active inside the nest cup.
	June 27 - Like a well-choreographed musical, these five Tree Swallow nestlings are following each other's cues. Now nine days old, they can crawl about the nest and are capable of maintaining their own body temperature (thermoregulation).
	June 26 - A nice shot of the female in the box with all five of her young begging for food. The nestlings, now eight days old, are beginning to show contour and primary feathers.
	June 25 - At left, the female is seen carrying a fecal sac in her beak. Below, she is carrying a large insect, possibly a dragonfly or grasshopper to the week old nestlings. Now more than ever, life will be extremely hectic for these parents.
	June 24 - The male is still an active player in rearing these five hungry birds, as he enters the box with flies in his beak. Given the extremely wet spring in New York, it is safe to say that the female would have had a difficult time feeding the birds on her own.
	June 23 - The nestlings are five days old now and will begin to move about the nest cup. They will remain in the nest until they outgrow the cup and are fully feathered, normally around 20 days.
	June 22 - Surprise! The image at left shows the male bringing in a fly to the nest. The image below shows the female placing food inside the beak of one of her young. If you look closely, you can count four other gaping mouths. We were uncertain if that last egg had actually hatched or just been buried beneath the nest. We are happy to report that this nest contains five nestlings!
	June 21 - The female will begin to brood the nestlings less and less after today, although she will continue to brood the chicks during the night and on cold days. Sometimes the female can be seen digging into the nest material—possibly for blowfly larvae in which to feed to the young birds.
	June 20 - Three of the four young begging for food. Both the male and female will share the responsibility of feeding their hungry chicks throughout the nestling period; shown here is the female.
	June 19 - At hatching, chicks are a uniform pink color with some down feathers and eyes closed. There is little movement except to raise the head to beg for food.
	June 18 - HATCHING DAY!! The three images from top to bottom show the first, second, and third chick hatching. It took approximately 12 hours for the four chicks to hatch. It appears that the fifth egg will not hatch.
	June 16 - We have been unable to upload images of this cam because the computer was damaged during an electrical storm. We are glad to see however, that the female is still incubating her five eggs which are due to hatch any day now. The female is visible at left perched atop the eggs.
	June 11 - One week after incubation began, the male is seen delivering feathers to the nest. He may continue to bring feathers into the nest until the nestlings hatch.
	June 10 - The female on eggs looking straight up at the camera. She has been very attentive to these eggs and we hope the prolonged cold and wet weather in New York will not affect the success of this nest.
	June 9 - The five eggs are nestled deep within the feather-lined nest. Incubation occurs by females only, although in rare instances, or during cold spells, the male may sit on eggs in the female's absence.
	June 7 - This one-year-old female is mostly brown above, making her almost completely camouflaged among the goose feathers. You can see her white underparts, distinguishing her from the nest feathers. The upper body feathers of males and older females are iridescent greenish blue.
	June 7 - The fifth and last egg of the clutch was laid on June 4. We are lucky to capture the image of all five eggs because the nest is so dense with feathers, often covering the eggs.
	June 2 - A third egg was laid today. This nest box contains dozens of Canada Goose feathers, making the box appear darker than it actually is. Theories for why Tree Swallows line their nests with feathers include: lower cooling rate of nest; increased moisture barrier; higher nestling growth rate; and lower parasite infestation rates.
	June 1 - The image at left shows the male Tree Swallow carrying a feather into the box. The image below shows one of the parents peering in on their two eggs. Clutch initiation occurred yesterday, May 31.

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Tree Swallow (NY2)

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