Upper Columbia Swallow Habitat Enhancement Project

Looking for volunteers to help monitor swallow nests!

Are you interested in learning more about some of our local swallow species and their nesting habits, and have a bit of extra time this spring/summer? The Upper Columbia Swallow Habitat Enhancement Project (UCSHEP) is looking for volunteers to help monitor swallow nests: Barn Swallows between May and August, Bank Swallows between June and July and Cliff Swallows between May and July. For Barn Swallow monitoring, as well as at other sites, we are currently especially looking for volunteers to monitor at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort. The time commitment is an hour or so about once a week for Barn Swallows. For Bank and Cliff swallows, colonies are monitored three times during the nesting season. We will adjust timing to volunteer availability. Training and support will be provided. We are also looking for more Barn Swallow nests in the area so if you know of any, please let us know!

Background

Populations of birds that catch insects while flying have been declining for decades. Conservation actions must be put into place to help halt and reverse this trend.

Bank Swallows – a species with intrinsic value that provides immense mosquito control is facing one of the fastest population declines for a species in Canada with an estimated 93% to 98% population loss in Canada over a recent 40 year period. With fewer than 10% of their population remaining in Canada, this species requires urgent conservation action. Similarly, Barn Swallows (one individual eats up to 850 insects each day!) have had an overall population decline of 76% in Canada in a 40-year period.

Through inventory and monitoring work, the multi-year (2021-2026) and multi-faceted Upper Columbia Swallow Habitat Enhancement Project (UCSHEP) discovered that the Columbia Valley provides critical habitat for Bank Swallows. It’s important for five other species of swallow too, including at-risk Barn Swallows. To aid in species recovery, we are learning more about important swallow habitats located in the region and how to conserve or enhance them.

Our swallow habitat enhancement project is benefiting the Columbia Valley by:

a) offering and providing a citizen-science opportunity to monitor swallows and working with multiple partner organizations,

b) erecting artificial nesting structures in key areas to increase long-term habitat availability for Barn Swallows,

c) enhancing and restoring slopes to become suitable nesting habitat for Bank Swallows,

d) providing artificial nest cups to private landowners to attract barn swallows to pre-existing structures, and;

e) assisting with tagging and research into the timing and locations of post-breeding bank swallow movements (including migratory route and wintering grounds) using the Motus Wildlife Tracking System.

Additional benefits come from providing information regarding the federal Species at Risk Act and Migratory Birds Convention Act including obligations under these Acts, and educating private landowners regarding their duties to protect nests (the illegal removal of swallow nests on private lands is of great conservation concern). Volunteers are gaining considerable appreciation and knowledge of swallows through citizen-science participation. This project retains ecological experts, naturalists and volunteers that are dedicated to pursuing long-term conservation goals related to biodiversity values in the Columbia Valley (Canal Flats to Donald).

Windermere Lk Prov Park — Windermere Lake Provincial Park – Bank Swallow colony restoration project.

Some of our Conservation Successes

The Upper Columbia Swallow Habitat Enhancement Project (UCSHEP) is working to halt and reverse significant population declines facing these two at-risk bird species.

We have erected six structures for Barn Swallows to expand their available habitat; one structure has had four successful Barn Swallow nests, other structures need more time for occupancy. With partners Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) & Lake Windermere Rod & Gun Club we also built a multi-species condo to satisfy the habitat requirements of both endangered bats and swallows. And with WCS and The Nature Trust of BC, we restored a deteriorating building for both breeding swallows and bats, and used by both species after restoration and enhancements in summer 2024. We assisted with a barn roof replacement that provides significant Barn Swallow habitat in Invermere and installed 102 nest cups (provided by the Lake Windermere Rod and Gun Club) on pre-existing buildings and on artificial nesting structures. Nest cups can give Barn Swallows a head start on nest building, and a few have been used so far.

To help provide unprecedented information on post-breeding movements of Bank Swallows, we worked with Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service and BC Parks to install seven Motus Wildlife Tracking Stations in the region and subsequently tagged 100 Bank Swallows at two colonies near Invermere in June of both 2022 and 2023 (see report for more information). With BC Parks funding, we helped restore Bank Swallow colony habitat within Windermere Lake Provincial Park. We removed vegetation blocking Bank Swallow flight paths at a Blaeberry colony. A Bank Swallow habitat enhancement project was completed in Athalmer with the District of Invermere; a colony was saved from being removed there and breeding habitat was expanded with nearly 200 active breeding pairs in 2024. In November 2024, we completed the construction of an innovative artificial nesting structure in the Donald area for Bank Swallows, on Ducks Unlimited Canada land. This is in an area where habitat is lacking. As well we enhanced Bank Swallow habitat at Birchlands Creek (20 km S of Golden), adjacent to where colony habitat had been destroyed.

The UCSHEP has recorded Barn Swallow nests on 127 pre-existing structures at 65 locations. We also found 128 active Bank Swallow colonies from Canal Flats to Donald, with 58 additional colonies found without any Bank Swallows.

We have involved 155 volunteer citizen-scientists in swallow monitoring, have provided two dozen training sessions, had dozens of private landowner visits regarding co-existence and potential enhancements, and spoken with several individuals/stakeholders regarding strategies to co-exist with swallows. We provided funds to the Ktunaxa Nation and Secwepemc Nation (Shuswap Band) who researched their traditional Indigenous perspectives on swallows and provided us with the content that is used on our interpretive signage. We develop posters, videos, website/social media content, press releases, and give presentations on the project at events and to community groups. We have and will continue to monitor the effectiveness of all of our enhancement and restoration projects until 2026.

Our data has helped identify the area between Canal Flats and Brisco as Critical Habitat for Bank Swallows and that area is being considered to become the Upper Columbia Key Biodiversity Area.

More information on achievements and the project are found in the FWCP Draft Final Report, attached to this Interim Report.

Four Barn Swallow chicks successfully fledged from this nest cup installed in the Invermere area in August 2022.

Innovative dual species habitat structure built for swallows and bats.

More on the Motus Wildlife Tracking of Bank Swallows

Through collaborations with Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Canadian Wildlife Service, we installed three large Motus Wildlife Tracking Stations (and three smaller stations) in the Columbia Valley in 2022 and 2023. In 2022 and 2023 we banded 100 Bank Swallows and put Motus tags on each of them. Motus tracking is being used to identify areas visited during the breeding and post-breeding period (prior to fall migration) by Bank Swallows. Using Motus receiving stations located throughout the western hemisphere, tagged individuals have been tracked during fall migration, providing unprecedented information on migratory timing, routes, stopover locations, and winter areas. This information is key for forming international collaborations that can help conserve and recover swallow habitats and populations throughout the year.

For more information on the UCSHEP, please contact project biologist, racheldarvill@gmail.com. If you are interested in becoming involved with this swallow conservation project, please contact swallows@wildsight.ca.

This project would not be possible without the generous financial contributions of the Columbia Basin Trust, Fish and Wildlife Compensation Program, Regional District of East Kootenay’s Columbia Valley Local Conservation Fund, Province of BC’s Gaming Grant, and BC Parks