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From: janetm@kean.ucs.mun.ca
Newsgroups: rec.birds
Subject: attracting insect-eating birds
Message-ID: <169852@kean.ucs.mun.ca>
Date: 12 Dec 90 21:37:25 GMT
Organization: Memorial University. St.John's Nfld, Canada
Lines: 20

I am interested in attracting insect-eating birds to some land in 
rural Newfoundland. The site is basically boreal forest, but it is in 
a valley sheltered enough to support some deciduous trees. There is a 
pond nearby and some open fields, and lots of brush. There is also a 
good supply of every man-eating insect in the northern hemisphere. I 
plan to garden, but will not be using any chemicals that might harm 
birds.
From what I can gather, my best bet is to try to attract tree swallows 
and olive sided fly catchers. We don't get purple martins in 
Newfoundland (darn it). Swallows are not common like they are on the 
mainland of North America.
If anyone can give me information about nesting sites, nesting boxes, 
or means of attracting these birds I'd be very grateful. We will be 
doing extensive work on the site, though much will be left 
undisturbed, and I'll add anything that might make these birds feel at 
home. There are lots of finches and chickadees around. We only got the 
place in August, and I didn't have a chance to look at the birds 
closely, except to notice a large family grouping of ravens.
Thanks in advance,
Janet