The 2025 nesting season on the BCC campus has begun on an interesting turn of events.
- The initial arrival date of the cliff swallows at surrounding colonies was 1-2 weeks later than usual. I received a red hot tip from Ellie in the Library that the cliff swallows had arrived here. Very unusual in recent years for the cliff swallows to use the BCC campus as a primary colony. The cliffies once again caught me completely off guard. They’re so much smarter than me!
- The spring has been particularly rainy and cool. Did I mention rainy?
- The previously mentioned primary nesting cycle at BCC in recent years has rarely shown success since 2013. Only through reintroduction techniques have we at BCC seen a return of the cliff swallows, but only as a secondary colony for second nesting attempts of the birds. Often times the flock of cliff swallows would arrive on campus in the company of recently fledged young.
- Added to this factor, Roof construction on the Library and SBA buildings has made the installation and maintenance of the temporary mud source site of last year especially problematic.
I had a gnawing feeling in my gut, so around the 3rd week I set up a 2nd mud gathering site on the upper fire road. Another site where the cliff swallows also used to gather mud before the fire road was asphalted between 2013-2015. The itty bitty birdy footprints left in the mud is a preliminary indication that at least this site has been discovered.
Fortunately, The laws of nature at the time of this writing is smiling in the favor of the cliff swallows. Within the first 10 days of May 2025 the campus has received 4.88” of rainfall. This means there for the moment, is plenty of mud everywhere to be had. We can all heave a huge sigh of relief. As of May 13, 2025, 8 pairs of cliff swallows are presently attempting to nest at the BCC campus. We’ll see what the next couple of months bring.