house martin high-rise homes
a pair of house martins on their nest
Walking in Geneva with
DweezelJazz recently, near to Carouge, we were surprised to find these
House Martins nesting under a ledge on an apartment block. It took me a moment to realise that these were no ordinary nests, constructed from mud. Oh no, these are made from steel!
Now I do know that birds can use tools, and that they can invent them as well. There’s Betty, a New Caledonian Crow, who is famous for having figured out how to bend wire into hooks to retrieve food. You can see that in a youtube video of her exploits.
Jasmine playing with a bolt
Then there’s Jasmine, our African Grey, who was also very
adept at undoing nuts and bolts. She even tried to re-assemble them after taking them apart, and came very close to doing so more than once. However, unless these House Martins have learned how to use power-tools, I rather suspect these nests were provided for them by some kind soul. Whoever it was, in my opinion, you deserve a medal.
The birds clearly approve too, these nests are very well-used. In the few minutes we spent watching them, most of them had someone come or go at least once. The shelf underneath the nests is also a good idea, people passing by can do so without having to worry about what might fall on them.
Good for you, Geneva!
house martin feeding chicks
(Possibly) related posts:
- Welcome to Song for Jasmine
- HR 669, A Threat to Your Pet
- Goldfinches
- Sunflowers
- Bird feeders
Tags: Carouge, Geneve, Jasmine, African Grey, House Martin
Posted by Tony on Friday, July 31st, 2009 at 20:12 in Jasmine, African Grey, Birds.
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