Unknown Texas bird that uses abandoned swallow nest (1 Viewer)

I live in the desert of West Texas, and my carport plays host to sparrows and barn swallows every year. I've never seen the barn swallows reuse an empty nest, they prefer to build a new one. This year, however, I have a new kind of bird. It's a pair that took ownership of an abandoned barn swallow nest, and added on to it to make it higher and wider. They are about the size of barn swallows, but don't gurgle like swallows at all, and mostly make a cheep, cheep sound when they're trying to run me away from the nest. They are mostly gray, to brown on the wings, and they appear to have little black masks on their eyes. I've got some pictures and videos, but as this is my very first time here, I don't yet know where to post them. Hopefully someone here will know right off the bat what these birds are. Thanks for any help I may get in identifying these birds. In the meantime, I'll poke around and figure out how and where to post pics and video. Thanks again!

Charlie

Charleypete1957 said:

I live in the desert of West Texas, and my carport plays host to sparrows and barn swallows every year. I've never seen the barn swallows reuse an empty nest, they prefer to build a new one. This year, however, I have a new kind of bird. It's a pair that took ownership of an abandoned barn swallow nest, and added on to it to make it higher and wider. They are about the size of barn swallows, but don't gurgle like swallows at all, and mostly make a cheep, cheep sound when they're trying to run me away from the nest. They are mostly gray, to brown on the wings, and they appear to have little black masks on their eyes. I've got some pictures and videos, but as this is my very first time here, I don't yet know where to post them. Hopefully someone here will know right off the bat what these birds are. Thanks for any help I may get in identifying these birds. In the meantime, I'll poke around and figure out how and where to post pics and video. Thanks again!

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How about Say's Phoebe? They often build their nests on or in buildings using when available the old nests of other species (or their own old nests) as foundations. I've encountered several instances of this in old buildings in the Nevada ranch country..

https://www.flickr.com/photos/fugl/30086169466/in/album-72157632681382198/

That seems like quite the observation there. I have never heard of a small bird taking over a natural nest of another species really. It is interesting because we know that house wrens will commandeer bluebird nest boxes for example, and that hawks take over abandon nests. I guess the reason we may not often encounter natural nest take overs by small birds is probably because their nests are simply hard to find. I bet there are nest searchers that are already keenly aware of this, but I have never done much serious nest searching. I would be really interested to know what species this turns out to be if we can get to the bottom of it. Maybe a common yellowthroat? edit: just realized you said the desert, so probably not that unless you have some nearby water source with some marsh plants

Say's Phoebe is a pretty good guess too. I would think they might use the same type of nest habitat as barn swallows. They usually nest on buildings or concrete and so do barn swallows.

Could they maybe be House Sparrows? Your description sounds decent for a male House Sparrow, but I suppose Say's Phoebe is possible too.

Hey y’all,
I think I’ve got a couple of cave swallows here. I went looking at pictures last night after I posted and found what I think is my mystery bird. I’ll have to look at the birds again when I get home to be sure. I’ll let y’all know.
Charlie