I looked out the other day and saw at least 15 barn swallows swooping around the front of the barn. Since we only had the two parents and three babies old enough to fly, I knew we had visitors. Sure enough, barn swallows migrate too. We have another tour group stopping in today.
Dive bombing me and Kate.
See the bug in the closest bird's mouth? I hadn't even seen any bugs flying around and swoop, another one gone. We are in really good shape bug-wise around here this summer. I credit the barn swallows, purple martins and bats.
And now we have four new barn swallows! I've been watching the "bebbies" grow for the last few weeks - a second group in the same nest - and knew they were close to fledging. Today was the day. When I first approached the barn this afternoon I saw six sitting on the swing and loft. Two flew out and started yelling at me, so these four are the babies.
And one brave parent flew back in to keep watch. Good job, everybody!
We've kept a steady stream of around 20 martins flying in every day or so and then they pretty much stopped last week. But now some new groups are passing through. I think it's so neat that they found us or remember seeing us last year or somehow got the word that this is a good stopping point.
They don't stay long.
Well, most of them don't ;-).
"Hey, where'd everybody go?"
5 comments:
That is wonderful......love the way you caught the blue of the swallows. Colour reminded me of the Nuthatch Hap in Kate's book. Ravens yell at us in the woods once in a while and today it was a coyote yipping/barking at us for 45 min out of the 1 hr and 15 min walk and then when it when it stopped..like now it's in stealth mode...Teagan is in heat so I preferred to hear it carp at us!! Then I knew where it was.
Late last summer, as I was mowing the yard, I realized barn swallows were swooping and diving all around me. The reason? All of the grasshoppers leaping out of the way of my tractor. The swallows were having a feast! I stopped and just watched them as they did their acrobatics all around the area I was mowing and it was so cool!. Once I was done mowing, they left.
I love swallows! We call your barn swallows Welcome Swallows. They don't migrate here in New Zealand. Well, at least up the top of NZ where it's warm most of the year. Love their peeps and cheeps, but not their messy nesting habits when it happens above my door. Mind you, living on the boat, that doesn't happen anymore. I almost miss it...
I love bird watching! Great photos and that's really neat that you have so many sharing your place with you and your sheep.
I think "Oanh Oanh" is a spammer. Please don't click on the link in her comment- it's the same comment she uses in every post.
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