Caught on camera: Barn swallow chicks at Woodland Park Zoo
Jul 3, 2013, 1:54 PM | Updated: 2:25 pm
Woodland Park Zoo's live animal cam captures a barn swallow family 9 feet above the ground with a look into their nest of newly hatched chicks at zoo.org/animalcam. The chicks are 2 weeks old and will take their first flight at just 21 days old. Tune in to the live animal cam to follow their growth throughout the season.
If you can’t regularly visit Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo, check out the roving animal cam. The zoo features a new animal or exhibit angle every week.
A family of North American barn swallows in their nest nine feet high in the Raptor Barn is center stage. The babies hatched the week of June 17.
Since the camera has night vision, you can check in anytime and maybe catch one of several feedings.
The zoo says you might even see one of the chicks’ milestones on camera.
-Look for the chicks to start growing their flight feathers (June-July)
-At about 21 days old, they may take their first flight (possibly early July)
-As this clutch hatched early in the season, there may be a second clutch that hatches in the nest.
-Look for a geolocator on the back of one of the parents-it’s part of a study that lets scientists track where they spend their winter and when they return to Seattle.
The zoo says there are four swallow nests in the Raptor Barn, which is down from the record 13 nests in the Family Farm. Scientists are collecting data in a barn swallow study to track a decline in the number of nests at the zoo.
