Bennington Lake Tree Swallow Project

In the spring of 2007 several members of Blue Mountain Audubon noticed that several of the snags around Bennington Lake used by tree swallows for nesting purposes had fallen down. It was hoped that man-made nest boxes would be useful in keeping the swallows at the lake. Rodger Shoemake made six boxes that hopefully would be mounted on permanent poles around the edge of the lake. Because it was already spring, Corp of Engineers Park Ranger Chris Alford put the boxes up temporarily on trees around the lake. The tree swallows returned and used some of the boxes as well as remaining standing snags around the lake.

Tree swallow nest box at the south end of Bennington Lake – Spring 2007

Male tree swallow – 2007 Tree swallow pair – 2007

Male tree swallow using existing snag – 2007

There was a violent wind storm in January of 2008 and more wind in February, which caused most of the remaining snags at the lake to fall. The need for nest boxes for the tree swallows became more urgent. At the end of March, 2008, Chris and fellow Ranger John Derinzy took the nest boxes down to mount them on permanent poles. They noted that four of the six nest boxes had nests in them. The number of hatchlings from the 2007 season was not determined, but the group was happy with the results of the first year. The boxes were permanently placed around the lake the first week of April and the swallows are already back showing interest in them. A big thank you goes to the Corp of Engineers Rangers Chris and John for their help with this project.

Tree swallow box on permanent pole at south end of lake

Stay tuned for results of the 2008 nesting season…..