Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 2 abstract The fact that avian eggs contain antibody of maternal origin is well documented, but only recently has this phenomenon been considered in an ecological context. We used tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) to examine the possibility of transgenerational immunity and its effect on nestling growth and immune development. […]

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 17 abstract We reduced or increased tree swallow, Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808), clutch sizes by three eggs (50% of modal clutch size) to test experimentally for relationships between stress and parasite loads. In the first year of the study (1996), we enumerated two measures of stress (granulocyte to non-granulocyte […]

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 1 abstract Females, and not males, have delayed plumage maturation. The hypothesis that plumage differences are the result of differences in competitive abilities among individualsis tested by comparing brown and blue Tree Swallow females in terms of foraging abilities, as determined by the growth of nestlings under their care […]

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 9 abstract Swallows are parasitized rarely by Brown-headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater). I added cowbird eggs to 15 Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) nests. One egg disappeared and seven failed to hatch whereas 63 of 66 host eggs hatched. The seven cowbird hatchlings died in 3-12 (mean = 6.3) d, whereas […]

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) Science Article 6 abstract We studied the reproductive biology of a box-nesting population of Tree SwallowsTachycineta bicolor in southeastern Wisconsin, USA. We were interested particularlyin the relationship between laying order and hatching order and the extent to whicheach was a predictor of nestling body mass. We found that laying order was […]

Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) Science Article 1 abstract Published data describing the biometrics, moult and fat loads of migrant Red-rumped Swallows Hirundo daurica are scarce. Here we present data on wing and tarsus length, tail measurements, abdominal fat scores and weight for a sample of 457 birds captured at a reed-bed roost during autumn migration […]

Northern House-Martin (Delichon urbicum) Science Article 1 abstract Starting in 1961, from 50-100 villages and settlements in the industrial area of Hannover-Braunschweig (centred on Peine) have been checked at 5-year intervals to count the nesting populationof House Martin Delichon urbica and Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica, the method beinga direct nest count. The hitherto stable Barn […]

Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) Science Article 1 abstract From 1994 to 1999, we investigated how climatic conditions influence the laying dates and number of fledged young of the Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris, a poorly studied colonial martin that, like other aerial feeding birds, is supposed to be highly dependent on weather conditions. Laying dates were […]

Blue-and-white Swallow (Notiochelidon cyanoleuca) Science Article 1 abstract This Swallow has the upper plumage is dark, violaceous steel-blue; the under parts are pure white except for the blue-black under tail-coverts, the grayish-brown sides and flanks, and a few dusky spots in the center of the chest, which are lacking on some individuals. The tail is […]

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) Science Article 3 abstract To compare fitness data not only between adults and juveniles but also between recently-fledged and older juvenile Swallows we looked for an externally-visible character to distinguish these two cohorts in the field. So far, no such criteria seem to have been described (Svensson 1992, Suter 1985, Cramp […]