Posts Tagged ‘House Martin’

High-rise House Martins

Friday, July 31st, 2009
house martin high-rise homes

house martin high-rise homes


a pair of house martins on their nest

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

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

house martin feeding chicks

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Posted by Tony in Jasmine, African Grey, Birds | 0 Comments