Petaluma wetlands group helps swallows thrive

The Petaluma Wetlands Alliance has helped nurture hundreds of iridescent tree swallows since the first purpose-built box went up on a post at the city’s Shollenberger Park.|

Len Nelson maintained his focus on the front of the wooden bird box as he reached for the small paintbrush in the bag on his shoulder, a tool he used to lightly dust hundreds of tiny specks away from the area around the entrance.

These were tiny mites, he explained amid strokes, a common avian pest that can wreak havoc on young birdlings. The housekeeping continued through a side hatch, which Nelson used to carefully probe for the young birds while checking for possible infestation.

“I like them to leave healthy,” he said, giving the OK before his gloved hand gently closed the door on its chirping inhabitants.

Any day now, these fledgling tree swallows - like the many hundreds before them - would take flight, he said.

Armed with tools of the trade - a small bottle of water, a tiny vial of mite-busting diatomaceous earth, a careful touch and exhaustive record keeping - Nelson and others in the Petaluma Wetlands Alliance have helped nurture hundreds of iridescent tree swallows since the first purpose-built box went up on a post at the city’s Shollenberger Park in 2002.

The program is one of several volunteer-led efforts under the newly independent Wetlands Alliance, an advocacy, education and conservation group that set out as its own nonprofit in February. The group coalesced in 2001, and has existed since 2003 as a committee of the Santa Rosa-based Madrone Audubon Society.

Fresh off the first meeting of the newly elected board earlier this month, Al Hesla, the inaugural president, said the milestone has fostered new excitement in the 15-year-old organization.

“There was a lot of energy – people are excited to get working,” he said.

On a recent Monday morning at Shollenberger, Nelson, a long-time volunteer and wetlands docent, explained his methods, which he employs on an as-needed basis. A little bit of diatomaceous earth, gently brushed into the feathers, can help keep pests at bay. A small amount of water can free up stuck feathers. Removal of dead chicks will keep out the ants.

The troubleshooting has added up to as much as a 30 percent improvement in the typical rate of young swallows that ultimately take flight from the boxes, he said. Yet there would likely be far fewer tree swallows nesting in Petaluma in the first place without the boxes themselves – unlike the mud nest-building cliff swallow, tree swallows seek out natural hollows that are harder to find in an increasingly urbanized city.

An awareness of that shrinking habitat was what prompted fellow volunteer Andy LaCasse to place the first boxes in the park more than 10 years ago. Recalling an early installation involving students from McDowell Elementary School, LaCasse said an eager swarm of the birds was already circling before they had finished mounting the box to a pole with a power drill.

“They couldn’t wait to get in there,” LaCasse said. “The kids got to see up close and personal how these birds need this housing.”

Nelson took over the monitoring and maintenance of the boxes in 2007, and has since logged more than 1,000 of the birds “fledging,” or reaching a maturity where they can fly from the nest. Nearly 70 percent of Shollenberger’s birds have fledged, as have more than 90 percent at Ellis Creek.

The two wetland areas have a combined 28 boxes. Additional boxes at Tolay Lake Regional Park have had results of more than 77 percent, according to Nelson’s data.

The data is provided to a massive international tree swallow organization called Golondrinas de las Americas, while also allowing the Wetlands Alliance to monitor its own effectiveness, he said.

Adult tree swallows appeared more curious than aggressive as Nelson checked on one nest this week. The small birds skittered around the area in loose circles, or watched from a perch just out of reach.

It’s a behavior that has grown over years of familiarity, said Hesla, the board president.

“They know Len,” he said, noting that some birds will return to the area year after year.

The swallows are nearing the end of the current nesting season, when juveniles and adults alike would be heading south, said Bob Dyer, a long-time docent who maintains the informational exhibits at the entrance to Shollenberger. Tree swallows are one of the 231 total species that volunteers have observed in the broader wetlands areas south of Petaluma, which is the largest tidal saltwater marsh in California.

Around 10,000 students have visited the wetlands as part of a hands on, Wetlands Alliance-led education program for third graders in Petaluma-area schools, he said.

“What we do is to plant a seed, and hopefully, it will help them to realize what a great asset the wetlands are,” he said.

Hesla said the Wetlands Alliance is laying the groundwork for its programs going forward, and has created 10 committees to hash out the details. The nonprofit is also looking to form partnerships with other like-minded organizations in Petaluma, including groups like Friends of the Petaluma River.

“It’s exciting. We can really grow our programs,” he said.

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @Eric_Reports.)

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