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It seems you can hardly drive or walk along an Ottawa street these days with seeing a condo development that wasn’t there the day before.
And although they might not realize it, that’s exactly what numerous motorists, bicyclists, runners and pedestrians on Riverside Drive have stared at with curiosity as they’ve passed near the Riverside Hospital over the past few months.
There, a number of small wooden, stilted housing developments have appeared along the Rideau River. These homes, though, were erected for one specific type of tenant: Barn swallows.
According to Nick Stow, senior planner with the city’s planning and growth management department, the boxes, which have numerous wooden nest cups nailed to their roof beams, are to provide swallows nesting opportunities, to compensate for those that will be lost during construction work on McIlraith Bridge, which spans the Rideau River from Main Street to Smyth Road.
“Barn swallows are considered threatened under the Provincial Endangered Species Act,” explains Stow, “and their habitat is protected.
“Under the provincial regulations for barn swallows, the City must prevent the barn swallows from nesting in the work area under the bridge with netting and provide alternate nesting sites in proximity to the bridge for at least three years.”
The underside of one of the wooden stilted boxes along Riverside Drive. The wooden nest cups are there to encourage barn swallows to build mud nests there.
It’s expected that the swallows will build their mud nests in the wooden cups. Additionally, each of the tall stilts supporting these boxes is wrapped in plastic and has an upturned steel bowl attached, to prevent predators from getting at the nests.
Renovations to the bridge, which will include the addition of bike lanes, waterproofing and paving, abutment and expansion joint repairs and painting of steel girders, is expected to be completed sometime in 2016.
bdeachman@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
And although they might not realize it, that’s exactly what numerous motorists, bicyclists, runners and pedestrians on Riverside Drive have stared at with curiosity as they’ve passed near the Riverside Hospital over the past few months.
There, a number of small wooden, stilted housing developments have appeared along the Rideau River. These homes, though, were erected for one specific type of tenant: Barn swallows.
According to Nick Stow, senior planner with the city’s planning and growth management department, the boxes, which have numerous wooden nest cups nailed to their roof beams, are to provide swallows nesting opportunities, to compensate for those that will be lost during construction work on McIlraith Bridge, which spans the Rideau River from Main Street to Smyth Road.
“Barn swallows are considered threatened under the Provincial Endangered Species Act,” explains Stow, “and their habitat is protected.
“Under the provincial regulations for barn swallows, the City must prevent the barn swallows from nesting in the work area under the bridge with netting and provide alternate nesting sites in proximity to the bridge for at least three years.”
The underside of one of the wooden stilted boxes along Riverside Drive. The wooden nest cups are there to encourage barn swallows to build mud nests there.
It’s expected that the swallows will build their mud nests in the wooden cups. Additionally, each of the tall stilts supporting these boxes is wrapped in plastic and has an upturned steel bowl attached, to prevent predators from getting at the nests.
Renovations to the bridge, which will include the addition of bike lanes, waterproofing and paving, abutment and expansion joint repairs and painting of steel girders, is expected to be completed sometime in 2016.
bdeachman@ottawacitizen.com
查看原文...
