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About Ten Barn Swallow Pairs Used Replacement Nesting Structures at Goss Farm

Two barn swallows at a mud nest on a wooden structure
Conservation · Management

About ten pairs of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) used replacement nesting structures at Goss Farm in Rye, New Hampshire, USA, after access to their traditional barn colony was closed for the 2026 breeding season. The barn had held an estimated 20–25 pairs for decades, and the new structures were erected as a mitigation measure.

The Rye Conservation Commission installed several designs, including a shed, open-sided pavilions, a smaller umbrella-shaped structure and open-fronted boxes. Wooden shelves, clay supports, artificial nest cups and old nests removed from the barn were added to provide possible nesting sites.

Monitoring from May to July documented ten nests associated with the new structures or the outside of the barn. One attempt was abandoned after five eggs were laid. The other nine first nesting attempts contained 45 eggs in total, and the report states that all were believed to have hatched and produced fledglings. Three later nesting attempts were also recorded; one failed, while the other two were estimated to have produced eight fledglings.

The report describes use by about ten pairs as an encouraging first-year result, but it does not show that the replacement structures fully compensated for the loss of the barn. Because there was no systematic monitoring before the closure, the overall effect on the colony cannot be measured. The author recommends multi-year monitoring and small structural changes, including horizontal ledges beneath pavilion eaves where birds had attempted to build nests.

Sources and image credit

  1. Hunt, P. (2026). Barn Swallows at Goss Farm in 2026.Primary management report dated 19 August 2026. Monitoring at Goss Farm in Rye, New Hampshire documented ten Barn Swallow nests associated with replacement structures or the barn exterior after the traditional barn was closed. The report calls the uptake by about ten pairs encouraging but states that the overall colony effect cannot be determined without systematic pre-closure monitoring.

Image: Two Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) at a mud nest on a wooden structure in the Bodenseeufer protected landscape, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, 14 May 2026. Photo: Jürgen Hamann / Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0. Representative nesting image; not the Goss Farm structures in Rye, New Hampshire. · CC BY 4.0 · Source

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