Sunday, July 21, 2019 Baby Swallows Report

Seward, Alaska
Update from July 14, 2019

Monday, July 15: First feeding at 8:15 am, when I removed the towel covering the cage and turned on the lamp. They ate about 3 beheaded meal worms each, sliced to size, and blobs of Karen’s special baby bird food. Today seemed chilly, so I replaced the cool LED bulb with a 40-watt incandescent that I had stashed away.

The babies were a bit scruffy-looking. I took a wet Q-tip and removed bits of debris and poop from their matted heads and feathers. After they dried, they looked so much better! Now the feathers can be preened and provide insulation and water protection.

Karen advised that the babies be misted with water to help water-proof them, so that became part of their daily regime. They didn’t seem to mind. 

As the day progressed, so did their appetites: feeding up to 10-11meal worms apiece! I’m getting a little better at beheading, slicing, and using the tweezers to guide the food. Last feeding at 10:45 and light out.

Tuesday, July 16: 8:10 am first feeding, 6 meal worms each. Fed every hour. Seems like I just get the cutting plate, knife, and tweezers cleaned off when it’s time to feed them again!

In the afternoon, I set a donated tall bird cage on its side so the three older babies could practice flying short distances. Strategically placed clothespins proved very popular as perches around the inside in addition to a regular bird perch, several small sticks, and a sprig of alder or aspen in a narrow-mouth bottle for a vase. 

I practiced wing muscle strengthening exercises with each in the cage by gently but quickly lowering the sweet baby perched on my finger to stimulate its flight response. They all held on tightly at first and then all flew! 

At 6 pm, Karen and Sam very kindly drove all the way to Seward from Anchorage to deliver more medium and large meal worms for the voracious feeders, and another young Violet-green Swallow with very short wings and a young BANK SWALLOW.

The tiny BANK SWALLOW had lost her primary feathers, several other feathers, and still had bent and damaged feathers askew from whatever accident befell her. I’m pretty sure she would not be able to fly until the new flight feathers arrived with the next molt. She would not accept the meal worms like the others, but I managed to get her to swallow some water dripped onto her beak. I am worried about her not eating. (Just guessing her gender; rather be wrong than call her an “it”.)

Finger flapping practice for the older ones in the cage to build strength. 10:45 pm last feeding, cages covered and lights out.

Wednesday, July 17: 8 am, nobody interested in breakfast. Gave Bank Swallow more water dripped on beak. If she won’t eat, then what? I don’t know how to force open her tiny, short bill to force feed and sure don’t want to hurt her.

With sunny skies and temperatures into the 70s, annoying black flies emerged. I slapped them off my unsuspecting “bait” dog on the deck who took a hit for the team. The Bank Swallow immediately recognized the flies as food and alertly snapped them off the tweezers. Yay! What a relief! The other swallows liked them too.

Neighbors and friends delivered dead flies in response to my FB message. I was hoping for a couple cups of dead insects from a bug zapper, but no one replied. I also set up a fly trap contraption but it didn’t work. Fortunately, once the Bank Swallow started on flies, she accepted meal worms too and was quick about it.

Big swallows spent an hour outside in the morning and afternoon in their big cage protected from the wind and hot sun on all three sides with parchment paper and cardboard on the top. They seemed excited by it.

Continued to feed all five every hour with beheaded meal worms and dead flies. This is quite a production and huge commitment!

Thursday, July 18: Gosh! Those baby swallows are sure cute! Two of the VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS’ wings are now long enough to cross, meaning they are ready to fly well. The third baby’s wings didn’t yet cross, but are growing fast. They spend a lot of time preening, stretching and fluttering. The male in particular likes to fly to my hand, whether or not it’s holding tweezers with meal worms or a camera. He’s ready!

Time for the two oldest to graduate to Flight School! I cordoned off my hallway with sheets and tarps to make it safe for the beginner aviators to fly and to rescue. A large elderberry branch placed in the water bottle holder of my bike in the middle provided the perch and school was open.

By now, they were trained to “step up” like an obedient parakeet when I gently slid my finger under their belly. After a quick cupped hand transport to school, I placed them on the elderberry branch for orientation. Then, with another, “step up” I took each individually and by lowering and raising my hand, let them flutter their wings to build up strength.

After a session or two, I dropped my hand more quickly and if ready, they let go and flew! So exciting! Pretty soon, the female was able to hit her intended target of a bare twig repeatedly. The male began flying in circles, managing to stay aloft for longer and longer before landing on a door top, my head, or ignominiously on the floor. Nonetheless, they were gaining in strength, confidence, and skills.

Outside in protected cage for an hour in the morning for the older three.

Friday, July 19: About the same as previous day. Added oatmeal, whole wheat flour, and potato slices to meal worm containers (one for medium meal worms, one for larger meal worms) to supplement food and provide moisture. I keep the containers in the refrigerator to slow down development into the unpalatable pupae and then darkling beetle adult. I put the live flies in a small container in the freezer for a (hopefully) painless death.

Saturday, July 20: Desperately low on meal worms. These babies really go through a LOT, eating 5-6 each, every hour from 8 am to 10 pm. I like the larger size as they can be cut into thirds and fed straight in, held by the tip of a dissecting needle. The smaller worms have to be offered from tweezers which are more clumsy for me and often fall off during the delicate transfer to the expectant, gaping beak.

After a wonderful morning session at Flight School for the three fledglings where the two older ones consistently hit their targets, I packed up the two cages and headed north. Not only were meal worms running low, but every day more swallows were migrating south. I was hoping to release the two older ones to freedom and friends.

I checked USFS headquarters at Mile 23, Moose Pass, and Tern Lake, feeling more and more depressed. I did not see ONE swallow! How I wished for a successful release to lots of willing adults who could watch over them and take them south! Freedom without friends is catastrophic. Apparently, it was too late. I fed them all, cutting off meal worm heads on a plate on the hood of my car, and drove sadly back home. What would become of these eager, beautiful youngsters?

Sunday, July 21: Now feeding even the smallest meal worms as the supply dwindles. Dead flies are sporadic, depending on time, sunshine, and the kindness of neighbors and friends. Once again, Karen and her husband came to the rescue, agreeing to meet me at Moose Pass at 1:30 to take the swallows back north where they would have more opportunities for freedom. Fortunately, she also had a plentiful supply of meal worms.

All are feeding well and growing. All seem quite tame and all are trained to “step-up”. I put all the babies in flight school one more time and let the little Bank Swallow just sit on the elderberry branch while the others took turns flying or flapping. They are just amazing and precious!

At noon, I packed up the five swallows in one cage and drove to Moose Pass. I fed them one last time, going through the selecting, beheading, slicing, poking, and feeding process with a lot more skill and confidence than just a week ago. Just like the babies.

Like yesterday, no swallows were seen where just last Sunday Karen experienced such a joyous release. 

Karen traveled with more recently received Violet-green babies and a TREE SWALLOW with a broken wing that sat dejectedly on the floor of the large cage. My goodness, it was huge in comparison to the Violet-green Swallows! I stared at it, somewhat stunned as I realized that what I had thought were Tree Swallow babies were Violet-greens! 

Without the Tree Swallow for scale, the differences are very subtle. But now I could see a bit of white emerging about the VGSW eyes and neck. My world was shaken! THEY obviously know who they are, but I sure didn’t! I had to relabel everything in my head that I had learned about Tree Swallows. Then, off they went! I was relieved, but also sad to see them go, wishing them all, humans and babies, the best.

Now the best hope for these orphans is to fly them overnight (hey, they sleep for 8 hours) on a jet to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka, Alaska where Swallows should still be there or just starting to migrate south. The “Swallow Express” is still under consideration, but I hope it succeeds. Stay tuned!

Happy Birding!

Carol Griswold

Seward Sporadic Bird Report Reporter 

Update August 2, 2019
Three VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS will be flying with Hannah, a representative from the Alaska Raptor Center, on Alaska Airlines this evening! If all goes well, they will be released tomorrow morning to the care of wild swallows to guide them all the way to Mexico and Central America. What an amazing journey thus far for these little ones, and so much farther to go!

PS Here are two baby bird food recipes:
2016 Wellness FoNS©
1 C (135g) Wellness® Core Kitten Formula (dry)

1.5 cups (355 cc) water
3 Tb (18 g) dried egg white
1 tsp (4.6 g) corn, sunflower, or canola oil
2.0 g pure calcium carbonate
~1/4 tsp (2.0 g) Lafeber Avi-Era™ bird vitamins
~1/2 tsp (5.0 g) active-culture plain yogurt

The 2016 ZuPhreem-FoNS© recipe substitutes 1 C (130g) ZuPreem Premium Ferret Food (dry) and uses 5 Tb (30g) dried egg white.