Birds and Bats at Camphill Kimberton

from Guest Blogger, Marilyn Michalski

This year’s birding season was successful.  Our nesting boxes were used by many pairs of Eastern Bluebirds and Tree Swallows.  The “Bird Team” of Marilyn Michalski and John Tower continued to improve box design and placement.  We also installed seven new boxes.  We counted up the number of baby bluebirds and tree swallows that were added to the world.   This year there are 127 new Eastern Bluebirds and 107 new Tree Swallows – all from boxes at Camphill Kimberton.  Make that 130 new Bluebirds –  we rescued three orphaned Bluebirds on Aug. 19, after both parents had been killed by predators.  We drove the week-old babies to the Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Chalfont, PA, where they are being fed and cared for.  This was a close call, as the babies were near death.  When we left the Rehab Center, they were already taking food.

Both Bluebirds and Tree Swallows help farmers.  The diet of Bluebirds is mostly grubs and crawling insects. Tree Swallows feed while flying – they catch insects in the air.  Together, Bluebirds and Tree Swallows improve crop yields.

We thank the residents of Camphill Kimberton for their support of the Bluebird Trail and their respect for our feathered friends. Charlene Roth gives us news about bird behavior, and Bill Lewis builds us nesting boxes.  Martha Cownap organized a “Nesting Bird Walk” last May – a popular event, which we plan to repeat in 2014.  Helen and Grace Ann permitted us to install a Bat Roost on Sassafras House, and Mimi Coleman feeds sugar-water to hummingbirds all summer.  Others give us encouragement and support. 

Bluebirds and Tree Swallows are “cavity nesters.” They build nests inside a cavity or protected box. We construct boxes with features they like, and we experiment with new locations every year. We discovered that some birds are willing to nest in boxes close to roadways in the village.

Another great achievement this year is the construction and installation of a large “Bat House” for Little Brown Bats. John Tower completed a “Four-Chambered Bat House” in August and, with the help of Maintenance Manager Jeff Whitman, mounted it on the East wall of the Bakery. It looks like a dark brown rectangle – up almost 15 feet, where bats like to sleep. Female bats like a large bat house in which they can move around, to find the right temperature for their babies. Bats are the only flying mammal, and they do not have feathers, just fur. Bat mothers nurse their babies the same way human mothers do. Bats eat hundreds of mosquitoes every night, as they dart around the sky after sunset, using echolocation to find food. There is no need to worry – bats do not fly into people’s hair. They have natural “radar” that prevents them from bumping into anything except the small bugs they catch for food.


by Marilyn Michalski with John Tower, AKA Bird Lady and Bat Man

Marilyn has been a volunteer with us since 1992, working to help American Kestrels, the smallest falcons. John Tower has brought his expertise and energy to the Bluebird Trail since early 2011.  His key role insures that birds and bats at Camphill Kimberton continue to thrive, adding joy and beauty to the village.

Thank you to Teresa S. Thompson for the bluebird box photos.