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Old 09-13-2017, 07:00 AM
densa44 densa44 is offline
 
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Smile Cliff swallows?

Have they left for the winter already? I had some nest near the house this year. They build nests on the garage under the eves, not in the nest boxes I built for them. However they had lots of chicks and I haven't seen a mosquito or horse fly all summer. This has been the best solution of any that I've tried so far.Can I expect them back next spring?

Thanks guys.
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Old 09-13-2017, 07:38 AM
FCLightning FCLightning is offline
 
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We have a pair of barn swallows that nested inside the kennel building (I am not sure how they go about getting in and out through the dog run doors without any of the dogs ever catching them) for the past four years. I am assuming it is the same pair returning every year because I find it hard to believe that a random pair of swallows would learn to enter and exit the building every spring.
So I think your chances are pretty good they will return.
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Old 09-13-2017, 07:41 AM
lakebesnard lakebesnard is offline
 
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Yes most likely they'll be back .... but were they cliff swallows or barn swallows? google them to see the differences in nest shape and body shape.
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Old 09-13-2017, 09:23 AM
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covey ridge covey ridge is offline
 
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They seem to return every year to the same locations.
I have not seen mosquitos or a horse fly all season, but I attribute that to the 30 plus temperatures and no moisture.
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Old 09-13-2017, 09:59 AM
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3blade 3blade is offline
 
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We had some previously, don't know which kind. they came back every year to the same spot, until they didn't, no idea why. Way more bugs now. I'm going to look into ways of attracting swallows.
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Old 09-13-2017, 10:04 AM
waterninja waterninja is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by densa44 View Post
Have they left for the winter already? I had some nest near the house this year. They build nests on the garage under the eves, not in the nest boxes I built for them. However they had lots of chicks and I haven't seen a mosquito or horse fly all summer. This has been the best solution of any that I've tried so far.Can I expect them back next spring?

Thanks guys.
It sounds to me that you might have barn swallows and not cliff swallows. Either way, they do a great job on cleaning up the mosquitoes. You might want to look into getting some Purple Martin houses for your yard someday. They also really do a number on mosquitoes and a large house can have a dozen families in it.
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Old 09-13-2017, 03:11 PM
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Big Lou Big Lou is offline
 
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Originally Posted by waterninja View Post
It sounds to me that you might have barn swallows and not cliff swallows. Either way, they do a great job on cleaning up the mosquitoes. You might want to look into getting some Purple Martin houses for your yard someday. They also really do a number on mosquitoes and a large house can have a dozen families in it.
Although Purple Martins are a swallow, it is a commonly purpotrated myth that they eat massive quantities of mosquitos. I can't recall the name of the fellow who started it but he was one of the first to offer ready made martin housing and one of his marketing tactics was saying that martins ate mosquitos in quantity. Many studies have been conducted and the only Mosquitos that martins consume are a larger species of mosquito that live in the south eastern US. Tree and barn swallows will do more than any Martin colony. I hosted 58 pair of Martins at my place last year and trust me, they do nothing for mosquito control. If you really want to do mosquito population damage get a bat house or two up and going. They will impact mosquitos like a swarm of giant dragonflies.
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Old 09-13-2017, 03:34 PM
FCLightning FCLightning is offline
 
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Always something to be learned from threads on this forum. But bats are probably no more effective at mosquito control than the Martins.

Quote:
“Bats are very poor predators of mosquitoes,” says Joe Conlon, a medical entomologist with the American Mosquito Control Association. While they’ll eat the insects, they prefer moths and beetles.

“Less than 1% of their foodstuffs are mosquitoes,” Conlon says. “They would starve if they relied on mosquitoes.”
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Old 09-13-2017, 05:11 PM
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Big Lou Big Lou is offline
 
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Originally Posted by FCLightning View Post
Always something to be learned from threads on this forum. But bats are probably no more effective at mosquito control than the Martins.
Interesting. Will have to do some more digging into this. Not disputing your source at all. I've been wrong before. I did read somewhere about using bats to effectively control mosquitos but perhaps it was generated by someone mass producing bat houses for sale.
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Old 09-13-2017, 05:19 PM
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alacringa alacringa is offline
 
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The ones that were flying around your garage at the test were Barn Swallows. Cliff Swallows usually use a rock, brick, or concrete surface; and neither nests in cavities (like nest boxes). Your nest boxes will work for Tree Swallows provided the hole is big enough (usually 1 1/2") and the floor area is big enough (typically 5"x5").
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Old 09-13-2017, 05:22 PM
FCLightning FCLightning is offline
 
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When I was putting up my bat houses I searched for information about it. It seems someone did a "study" where they put bats in a room full of mosquitoes and counted how many they could catch per minute. From that was extrapolated the tremendous number that it would be possible for them to catch in a night of feeding. But real world observations have shown that reality is quite different - similar to the hype on the Martins.

We traveled to Whitehorse this summer, camped and golfed all about Alberta and have been outside in the yard every single day we were home. I applied mosquito spray twice this entire year, and once was really unnecessary. I don't think that the birds/bats etc. had much to do with it.
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