Smart swallows caught on YouTube opening parkade doors

Nesting swallows at the University of Victoria are an online sensation after a YouTube video showing them operating motion sensor doors to a new campus bike centre went viral.

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The barn swallows have built about eight to 10 nests inside the bike centre, which opened in November as part of an underground parkade.

Because the parkade has been a nesting site for swallows for years, the bike centre was built with motion sensor doors to keep the swallows out.

But the swallows didn't swallow that plan.

Grant Hughes, who uploaded the video, says he noticed the swallows opening the doors earlier this month when he was locking up his bike.

He heard the doors open, looked to see who was coming in, but no one was there.

A few minutes later, he heard the doors open again but again nobody was there.

That's when he realized the swallows were opening and closing the doors so he whipped out his camera and recorded the same incident at least five or six different times.

Hughes thinks the birds may have been locked in when the doors were added during construction of the new centre.

See it for yourself and judge whether the swallows have figured out how to use the sensors.

The swallows can be seen swooping in front of the door sensors, and entering and exiting at will, with not an angry bird in sight.