do housemartins visit the same nest sites each year ?

[bigbadmarty]

for the last couple of weeks I've noticed one particularly brave housemartin hanging around the old farm building I'm working on which is now nearing completion . Unfortunately there was a dead bird on the window ledge this morning and I was wondering if this was the brave one who might have been trying to gain access to a former nest site - this time last year there was a couple of nests in the old dilapidated barn .
So was just curious if these birds do return to the same sites .
And what to do with greedy builders who value their granite worktops above our wildlife - (well not really as an unsecured building is asking for trouble !)
Can't help feeling a bit guilty though :(

[Traci66]

We had the house martins visiting the same nest for about twelve years until we demolished the barn and built a house, we still see them around the place where the nest used to be.

[douglas9401]

We had a nest where I used to work. The birds came back every year even after something ripped the front off the nest and scattered the contents.

[bigbadmarty]

thanks for that traci & douglas - I can imagine birds of the same species using a favourable site every year , was just wondering if they are the same individuals :)

[FredPuli43]

They return each year to the very place where they hatched. One sex returns to the same wall, the other to somewhere close by (but I forget which does which) and thereafter they remain faithful to the same sites .

[douglas9401]

http://www.garden-bir...birds/housemartin.htm

"They nest in colonies, building mud cups under the eaves of houses. The nests are frequently used for several years, often by the same adult birds or juveniles."

[boxtops]

Yes

[Kiki-frog]

Certainly the nests are used year after year, but possibly by offspring and not the same breeding pair. I wonder if they ever have inheritance disputes?

[bigbadmarty]

Thanks everyone for the info .
It seems likely to have the same bird - or at least its young'un .
Why didn't it just build nearby instead ...

[ladybirder]

You have demonstrated why so many of our birds are struggling to survive. With so many barns being converted into living spaces their nesting sites are getting fewer and fewer. They have a hard life.

[Traci66]

In holland, new buildings have to accommodate nesting sites for birds.

[emmie]

perhaps the idea would be to put up bird boxes, if old buildings, barns are being converted to homes. I do believe the Housemartins return to the same place, at least one relative says so.