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Nine barn swallow fledglings were counted at the new “Swallow Resort”

Three juvenile barn swallows perched together waiting for food
Conservation · Management

Nine barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) fledglings were counted after one pair used a new artificial nesting structure in the Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area in British Columbia, Canada. The result is described in the management area’s annual report for 2025–2026.

The structure, known as the “Swallow Resort”, was built at the Duck Lake Nesting Area in autumn 2024 and fitted with 72 wooden nest cups. Staff carried out 20 checks at roughly weekly intervals between 23 April and 25 August 2025.

One pair nested twice in the same cup. Both attempts were assumed to have been successful, with young fledging from the nest: five fledglings were counted after the first attempt and four after the second.

Before the breeding season, staff added mud to several cups to make them appear used. At the end of the season, four cups containing old nests from another local nesting structure were moved to the Swallow Resort. These “bait nests” are intended to provide visual cues for birds prospecting for nesting places in future years.

The report also notes that constructing a new artificial nesting structure after barn swallows have left on autumn migration does not necessarily prevent birds from using it the following spring. Both the older “Swallow Hotel”, built in autumn 2018, and the new “Swallow Resort”, built in autumn 2024, were occupied by one pair in the first breeding season after construction.

Temperature and humidity were also recorded inside the structure, but the report states that one season of data is too little for comparison with the older “Swallow Hotel” at Corn Creek Marsh. It recommends monitoring use of both structures in parallel for at least three years and establishing a longer-term monitoring plan.

Sources and image credit

  1. Creston Valley Wildlife Management Area. (2026). Annual report for 2025–2026 (Year 7): Kootenay Connect, Creston Valley focal area.

Image: Dikaiosp / Wikimedia Commons — three fledged juvenile barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) waiting for food, photographed 25 June 2018. Illustrative photograph, not from the Creston Valley project. · CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ · Source

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