Watershed groups on the lookout for little brown bug-eating birds

A New Brunswick non-profit that promotes biodiversity and sustainable ecology is asking people to be on the lookout for bank swallows.

The Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee says the little brown and white birds help control insect populations and are at risk in the province, mainly because of pesticides and habitat loss.

As much as 99 per cent of the bank swallow population has been lost, said Caitlyn Duncanson, the group's biodiversity co-ordinator.

"Because they like to nest in steeper eroding banks, often these banks are stabilized from people putting rocks on the shoreline and things like that. So their burrows are being affected and they can't find a place to nest," she said.

Additionally, the use of neonicotinoid insecticides in forestry and agriculture has killed off a lot of the insects that bank swallows eat, she said, citing a report from Environment and Climate Change Canada.

Bank swallows prefer beetles and true bugs, but they'll eat pretty much any flying insect, said Heather Polowyk, an aerial insectivore conservation biologist with Birds Canada, based in Nova Scotia.

Neonicotinoids are sprayed on a field or forest to deal with particular pests, but they also end up killing every other insect that comes in contact with the stuff, she said. 

The drop in population has taken place across Canada, said Polowyk, and the problem is even more widespread than that because bank swallows migrate and overwinter in South America. 

Elsewhere in the world, however, their populations are doing OK, she said.

Bank swallows are known to burrow into sediment in colonies of 10 to thousands to nest, said Duncanson.

In the 1960s, about 200 were counted during surveys in the Kennebecasis watershed in Penobsquis and Hampton, she said.

The last time any were recorded during official surveys was about 2015, she said, but that doesn't mean there are none around.

Sightings were uploaded to birding websites as recently as last fall, Duncanson said.

The watershed committee has produced a new guide to help track down and protect any remaining colonies of bank swallows. It's available on their website: kennebecasisriver.org under the heading, reports and publications.

Bank swallows are the smallest swallow species in North America, said Duncanson.

Their head, wings, tail feathers and a band across the chest are brown, she said, while their underside, chin and a distinctive jawline strap are white.

You can sometimes see bank swallow nesting holes along steep embankments when you're floating down river, she said.

She'd like anyone who spots bank swallows or their nests to contact the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee or upload the location to an app such as iNaturalist or eBird.

The committee is hoping to conserve those areas and to make sure they're not disturbed by humans.

LISTEN | In search of the bank swallow:

Information Morning - Saint John6:40Bank swallows

Caitlyn Duncanson and her colleagues at the Kennebecasis Watershed Restoration Committee have produced a new guide to help the public look for bank-swallow nesting colonies. Caitlyn joins the show to speak about the guide and how New Brunswickers can help this species-at-risk.

At least 70 potential bank swallow sites have been identified in the province, said Polowyk, along beaches, pits, quarries and rivers.

"We have tons of sites across New Brunswick that are being monitored or are in need of monitors," she said.

Anyone interested can register online at NatureCounts.ca.

Most of the current volunteers are from a program called Healthy Coasts, she said. It's run by Nature N.B., and made up of a number of watershed organizations.

There's a particular need for volunteers in the Edmundston and Woodstock areas, but there are also sites around Saint John, Fredericton and along the coast near Shediac.

She didn't want to be more specific because she said it's better for the sensitive habitats if people stay away.

One known and highly visible site is at Youghall Beach in Bathurst. 

It's being protected by roping off the area, making it a no-mow zone and planting vegetation, including willows, to stabilize the bank, said Duncanson.

This spring, students from the local community college will be going there to do some more planting, said Polowyk. 

They took part in a native seed planting workshop and have been cultivating plants in little greenhouses fashioned from milk jugs, she said. 

Eventually, Polowyk hopes the swallow nest site will also become a place where people can collect native seeds, such as milkweed.

She also hopes the success of the Bathurst project will encourage people in other communities to create, "living shorelines," and to consider bank swallows in their plans.