Badger Digs for Bank Swallows
Badger Digs for Bank Swallows
The Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) from its habit of nesting in boles in the faces of steep banks would appear to be able to raise its brood in comparative safety. As I was walking today (July 20) along the edge of a cut bank overlooking the Frenchman River, under which is a colony of these birds, I noticed several fresh badger holes, and at the mouth of each one feathers of various kinds. Then I came upon a dead half-fledged swallow and realized that the badger had been digging down from above and making a meal of young swallows. There were about six holes and a few scratches besides, about six inches deep, where the badger had started to dig and then desisted; which shows, I imagine, that the badger was guided to strike the nest below by his sense of smell or possibly of hearing.
Lawrence B. Potter
Gower Ranch, Eastend, Saskatchewan, July 20, 1924
