Barn Swallows migrate later or not?
By Risto
You wrote about your Danish Barn Swallows correspondence
contact and how there in Denmark once all their swallows did not migrate. I can tell you about the
same kind of thing that happened in Finland. An old farmer told me many times how once in Karelia
(that part of former Finland now belongs to Russia) in the 1930´s where his parents had a farm, one Barn
Swallow did not migrate at all but stayed for winter. At that time cow houses in Finland were
old-type buildings with lots of flies inside. That is why the Barn swallow could survive in the
warmth of the cow house. In the spring when the other swallows returned from the south, the
"winterswallow" died. The old farmer said the swallow was so delighted of the other swallows´ return
that it died of a heart attack. Well, we cannot know the reason of death, it may have
been a disease or - who knows - heart attack.
Another story: a farmer some kilometres away from our farm told
me that once a certain Barn Swallow pair had three broods in one summer. He said the swallow pair
arrived in April (unusually early) and having had three broods left halfway October (unusually
late). The secret may have been that the pair nested in the cow section of the cow house and
enjoyed the warmth and flies in there. Three broods is extremely rare in Finland. I
remember we had once second-brood swallow chicks in the nest still in the end of september and they made
it, although the nest was in the barn without any heat source.
We have already got winter, there is 10 cm snow and frost
almost all the time. The ground is not yet frozen, nor the lake. We are still expecting the
snow to melt away sooner or later but time will tell.
Have a nice time with
swallows.
Regards
Risto
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