DECEMBER 2022 THE RIDER /39 Barn Swallow Cave Turned Phoebe Cave (Part One)


By Linda Glass-Ward We built a Barn Swallow cave inside our


riding arena in the trusses, fifteen feet off the floor.


I observed that Barn Swallows always come


back to this area (Harriston Ontario), too early to begin nesting. Then they gravitate to the old bank barns out of necessity. The old bank barns are a lot warmer than airy open modern buildings, which is what our riding arena is. I got this big idea to make a nice warm


cave-like structure in the trusses. It was difficult to build. I am a carpenter and am quite adept at working high above the ground, but carrying planks 1 1/2 inches thick, up the sixteen foot lad- der and laying them across the bottom member of the trusses all by myself was not an easy task. I had a lot of help from my husband, former horse show judge, John Ward. I built a floor up there 8 feet long and 8 feet


wide and decided 16 feet long would be better. Another look at our supply of salvaged lumber told me I had enough lumber for a 24 foot long “cave”. It was difficult to lay the floor out and screw


it down safely. I put a temporary railing on three sides so I wouldn’t fall off. We sifted through our pile of old used roof-


ing steel for the walls. I hauled many sheets up alone, but had a lot of help from John. We used rope and screwed a wooden strap to the end of each sheet, to haul them up. I stood on the newly built floor and John did his part on the ground. I pushed those sheets between the diagonal


parts of the trusses and leaned over to screw them to the wood. I hauled a step ladder up to do the same. I had to make sure I put the top screws in first, to hold myself in place. I must be crazy. I cut short 2 x 4’s for the ceiling and screwed them across. I placed roofing steel on those and screwed that in place, sometimes lying on my belly. Picture the ceiling a couple of feet from the peak of the arena roof. One piece had to be re- movable, like an attic access hole. When the “cave” was complete I drilled


holes in the diagonal members of the trusses, to put electric fence wire perches for Barn Swal- lows. I then put my Barn Swallow shelves inside. I even remade a couple of Robins’ nests and put them in. This was in the winter and early spring of


2021. I wasn’t sure if my crazy scheme would work. I also implemented the shelf plan from Prince Edward Island (referenced in a previous article). No birds nested there in 2021. Then in July of 2021 on the Happy Days


rarely saw the female. The male con- tinued his habits of flitting around call- ing, “Phoebe, Phoebe”. Here is a paragraph describing


Eastern Phoebes found on page 93 of READER’S DIGEST Book of NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. ISBN 0-89577-351-1, 1990,1992.


Eastern Phoebe Cheerful and restless little


birds, eastern phoebes have neither eye-rings nor wing bars to distinguish them. And the erectile feathers on their heads are far too short to make a re- spectable crest. Nonetheless, they are in no danger of being overlooked among their more colorful fellows. Returning north at the beginning of spring, sometimes before the snow has left their summer haunts, these early arrivals are unmistakable. Pumping their tails op and down as only phoebes can, the males perch among the leafless trees and announce them- selves to everyone within earshot by emphatically and endlessly repeating their name: fee-bee fee-bee fee-bee. Although eastern phoebes


nest on the ledges of open cliffs in the wild, they also find bridges, porches, eaves, and sheds convenient housing


when many migrating Swallows flew through our arena, I felt certain that they had seen our Barn Swallow cave, and were coming back in the spring of 2022 to nest. No Barn Swallows nested there in 2022, but


I heard an Eastern Phoebe singing his “Phoebe” call, day after day. Then I spied him on the window sills in the arena. Then I saw his mate. The two were just hanging out. I kept looking for a nest. How would I find a Phoebe nest on the 100 shelves up in the ceiling of the arena? I have stuck many Robin or Swallow nests on the shelves with mud, to attract Swallows. May 16 is the day I spied a series of unfin-


ished Phoebe nests and one complete nest in the shelves under the floor of my Barn Swallow cave. Yes, the mystery was solved. I got a ladder and mirror to see if there were any eggs. There were no eggs in that beautiful Phoebe nest made from lichen and moss, so perfect, so soft. On May 19 I photographed the nest under the cave. From the internet I learned that Eastern


Phoebes sometimes build a nest and wait for days or even two weeks before egg laying begins. Thir- teen days went by in which I periodically climbed my ladder to peek down into the nest, using a small mirror. I still didn’t find any eggs, even though I


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sites. They will practically move in on favored homeowners, who may then be lucky enough to watch the construction of their moss-and -mud nests, the hatching of the eggs, the feeding of the young, and finally flights. Frequently returning to the same nest sites year after year, eastern phoebes are eagerly welcomed as harbingers of spring by those whose dwellings they have chosen as their homes. Please help Barn Swallows and other Swal-


lows and native birds. There are many things you can do. Is anyone interested in starting a Barn Swallow Society? Please contact me on Facebook or by telephone; Linda Marie Glass Ward (The barn Swallow Carpenter) 519 327-4541.


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