Great story!

Nesting barn swallows delay renovations at Mississauga’s Riverwood Conservancy Published on Monday July 30, 2012 Emily Jackson Staff Reporter Renovations to the carport of a Mississauga heritage house will have to wait until a group of stubborn barn swallows vacates the premises. The swallows, which prefer to nest in old structures such as barns and bridges, have spent their summers at The Riverwood Conservancy’s 93-year-old Chappell House carport for as long as volunteers can remember. So when the wooden roof was blocked off to protect the birds during construction — the city deemed the roof structurally unsound and planned to rebuild — the birds simply broke through the barrier, made nests and laid eggs. Longtime Riverwood volunteers alerted the city to the birds’ somewhat precarious situation. To the delight of conservationists, and perhaps the barn swallows themselves, the city removed the barrier and delayed repairs until the birds fly south to Central and South America for the winter. The city followed the guidelines of the Endangered Species Act, said project manager Laila Gabiazon, and will preserve the birds’ habitat when construction continues this fall. The birds’ clout in municipal decisions stems from the federal government’s designation of the species as “threatened” in May 2011. While there are about 4.9 million adult barn swallows in Canada, the population has declined about 30 per cent over the past 10 years. This is troubling because the birds eat insects, including flies and aphids, according to a Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada report. “The magnitude and geographic extent of the decline are cause for conservation concern,” the report states. Exact reasons for the decline aren’t known, but it is partly because of the destruction of old structures where barn swallows prefer to mate, such as open barns. A switch to modern agricultural methods could be another contributor to the decline. Riverwood is extremely pleased the city stopped construction, said Dave Taylor, education program director at the public garden and nature preserve in the Burnhamthorpe Rd. W.-Creditview Rd. area. “The laws make it pretty clear on what you can and can’t do,” he said. “Barn swallows are more numerous now, but because barns are being torn down all over the province they’re losing numbers and declining.” But these fortunate barn swallows got to keep their summer home. Their first brood has already fledged, Taylor said, and they’re starting on their second round of breeding.