Whose feathers are in this nest box?
Last week when Marianne Atkinson checked on the 12 bluebird boxes she maintains near DuBois, Pennsylvania, she found this tree swallow nest in one of them. She could tell tree swallows built it because they adorn their nests with feathers; bluebirds don’t.
The black polka-dot feathers caught her attention because they showed where the swallows had been.
A quarter of a mile away as the swallow flies, one of Marianne’s neighbors keeps helmeted guineafowl that make their presence known every day. Marianne says, “We can hear the guineafowl shouting for many hours a day, since the wind blows from that direction and carries the sound! [Even] when the winds are calm, they are easy to hear.”
Though guineafowl have never visited Marianne’s nestbox field, her tree swallows apparently visited the guineafowl and used their distinctive black feathers with white polka dots.
They feathered their nest with style.
(photo by Marianne Atkinson)
Thank you. How interesting and related to previous blog about guinea fowl.
Had guinea fowl for many years. One never “raises” them, they are sort of “feathered
felines”. Having them made for an interesting study of the antics of semi- wild creatures interacting with a free-ranging chicken flock. Not to mention geese as well.
Extremely busy birds, they made life a living Hell for the insect life around the farm.
And no one entered the property without causing a vocal outburst heard for 1/2 mile.
Recognized those nest feathers in a heartbeat.