Years ago I saw crows diving into swallow nests feet-first and making off with the young. More recently, I saw swallow nests built very close to a great horned owl nest. See photo. GHOs are the mortal enemies of crows. Did the swallows nest there because they knew their nests would be safer or was it just coincidence?
I wrote about this in my blog today. I'm inclined to think it wasn't a coincidence.
I think you've hit the nail on the head Jim- the swallows are likely nesting in this situation for some sort of protection. There are many examples of this in the bird world. Some geese nest with raptors as protection against ground predators like foxes. Some birds nest with wasps! Have a look at this link-
As far as answering your original question- "how smart are swallows", I'll just say that evolution has made them very good at what they do. Most animals live by relatively simple rules of thumb which have been moulded over millions of years of selection. In this case, the rule "build your nest close to a predator like an owl" works because they gain some form of protection and therefore experience a higher nesting success, with relatively little if any costs. Swallows are very smart at finding mates, finding insect food to feed on, building mud nests, finding their way to the sample place to breed year after year, and the list goes on, but they can't do arithmetic! "Smart" is species and culture dependent, hence the age-old controversy about what IQ tests in humans really mean.
Last edited by John Chardine; 08-21-2010 at 06:15 AM.
How Smart Are Swallows?
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