For work I get to work with Species at Risk birds, plants and amphibians / wildlife in general quite a bit; recently I had the chance to blend 3D printing in.
We’ve been having a hard time over the last few years getting Barn Swallow nesting cups to deploy in the field. This year in April/May, I’m going to need a few hundred and I can’t seem get more than 10-50 at a time right now…
Now I have to pester all the conservation authorities around me to help me test them out to see if the birds will take to plastic nests!
If anyone has swallows near them, i’m also happy to mail one out or share the .STL!
I have barn swallows here in Nova Scotia but very few and I don’t see many tree swallows either. I’ll print a few of these with the 1.2mm nozzle and no hollows inside and see if they will take with the birds this spring. I’ve tried a few printed things with animals, bees, goats, and sheep. bees were a definite no. sheep were indifferent mostly but preferred wood after a while (I think the surface promotes mildew) and goats just destroy everything. The only successful thing was nectar feeders for hummingbirds and butterflies. oh, and watering nipples for the chickens I forgot that. they get cleaned more regularly but I think the birds might be less picky with the plastic and I see people use PVC to make birdhouses around here.
@TurkeyOnRye I am going to download the cup. I love this type of solution. Very sadly as @Glenn said there are not large numbers of barn swallows left here in NS. When I was a kid, in the 70s there was a clip that was full of little swallows (barn? cliff? no clue I was 8) They were everywhere. Then it started to get used for gravel and little by little they were less and less. It is hard to remember the great numbers that area had and the basically zero that are there now. Our family owns a open sided garage that is very under used I will put it up there, maybe one will find it…
