Swallows are very common wherever there are settlements or open spaces above the water. In cities and towns, the most common killer whale ("barn swallow") and funnels ("city swallow"), they can cause residents a lot of trouble, building their nests under canopies or roofs, along the eaves of houses.
In order to build a nest, the swallow needs a vertical surface. She finds damp earth in puddles, rolls it into balls and brings it in her beak to the chosen place, attaching it to the nest with her own saliva. For strength, the swallow can strengthen the structure with straws, hair, stalks. The construction is purely mechanical, always according to the same principle. Once in new conditions, the swallow is lost and cannot adapt to them (for example, it cannot build a nest if there is no vertical surface).
Some of the most suitable nesting sites are the walls of buildings along the eaves, under the roofs and ridge of houses, under the pillars of bridges. The swallow tries to choose a place convenient for departure and at the same time under a roof so that the building does not get wet from the rain, and the chicks are protected. The reason why the swallows are chosen as the city's nesting places is simple - there is a lot of food for them here. They are happy to destroy hundreds and thousands of mosquitoes, midges and flies in a day.
According to popular belief, swallow nests on the wall of the house are fortunately. However, not all residents of the houses agree to such a neighborhood and try to drive the swallows out of the chosen place. In fact, it is quite difficult, which is associated with an instinctive attachment to the place.
The famous Russian naturalist V. A. Wagner conducted experiments in which he outweighed the nests of swallows at a short distance, and in front of the parents. The swallows searched for their nest for a long time at the place where it was built, they were even ready to feed other people's chicks. The scientist concluded that the place where the nest is built is very important for the swallows - even more important than the nest itself and the chicks. Therefore, a simple destruction of the nest will not lead to anything, the swallows will simply build a new one. The only way to scare birds away is to make the walls slippery so that the lumps of dirt cannot be fixed.
