Whether you hate the mess barn swallows leave or enjoy being able to watch them up close, a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert encourages you to plan for these birds’ arrival now.
The migratory spring season for swallows started March 1 and barn swallows will typically enter the southern U.S. in mid-March to mid-April. Of the eight species of swallows in North America, barn and cliff swallows are typically considered to be the most problematic since they build mud nests attached to houses, barns and other structures. Barn swallows tend to nest as single pairs, but cliff swallows can nest in colonies composed of up to several hundred pairs. Swallows need a suitable surface to build a nest, typically an overhang or covered ledge, and a supply of mud they deem the proper consistency for nest building. If your property meets these building requirements, odds are good swallows will be back year after year unless you intervene. AgriLife Extension’s Liz Tidwell, a small acreage wildlife program specialist in the Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Uvalde, said if you don’t want barn swallows on your property, then you must immediately intervene before any nests are built and occupied.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, passed in 1918, makes it a federal crime to hunt, kill, capture, sell or otherwise hurt them, which includes destroying nests in use.
