Swallow Trouble

We had four swallow houses with families this year. The house outside of Dad's office had the "early" family. The swallow babies hatched much earlier in that house than in the other three houses. Those youngsters  have already fledged and the house now sits silent for another year. The other three swallow houses are currently a flurry of activity. Each house appears to have three babies and the parents are busy feeding them from dawn to dusk. Tonight, after we returned from our neighborhood 4th of July potluck, I spied a baby swallow on the ground near the remaining potted dahlias. It came from either the round blue house or the white & blue house. I decided it came from the white & blue house since that one was a bit closer. We got out the ladder and I proceeded to plop the swallow back into the house. Well, all heck broke loose when I did. The next thing I knew, three baby swallow came shooting out of the house and started flying all over the vicinity - but not very well. We watched them fly and it soon became apparent that none of them knew how to fly back into the house. We left for a while to give them some privacy. When I came back in an hour, one baby was under the car in the garage, one was next to the heat pump box and the other was back by the dahlias! So this time I took down the house. I carried all three babies to the house and popped them back inside. Then I hung the house back up. I went back inside. After an hour I went to check on them. I found two of the babies back on the ground and one looking out of the house! Now it was about 7 PM. So, for the next 2 hours until dark, I kept picking up two wayward babies and stuffing them back into the house. Then I would wait for 1/2 hour and go back outside to check on them. Two babies were always on the ground. Finally at dusk, I wasn't able to find anyone outside of the house. I think all 3 were inside sleeping away. Hopefully tomorrow they will stay in or learn to fly and leave the house for good.

Welcome July

Welcome July!

The Swallows have Returned!

Today we once again heard a familiar sound up in the sky. The distinctive call of our Violet-green Swallows. They have returned! In most years, I hear them at work first, circling in groups as they swoop around. But this year they have returned back at our house before I have spied them down in the city. Soon they will be checking out all of the swallow houses and begin building nests for the Summer.

The Swallows

We have seven swallow houses  hanging outside the house and shop. This year is appears that we have tenants in four of the houses. Around the 23rd of June we realized that we could hear the first soft cheeping coming from a few of the houses. A week later the swallow babies were much louder. One of the houses hangs right outside a window on our stair landing. Solomon, an indoor only cat, has re-discovered the active house and is spending much of his time watching the parents arrive and the little chicks beg for food. Sometimes he gets so excited he chips and barks and his tail swishes back and forth on the sill. Luckily, the swallows completely ignore him and go on about their business.

At first we could only see two chicks in the house, but often one gets pushed behind the more dominate babies and is hard to see.

This turned out to be true. Every once in a while the third baby makes an appearance.

The parents spend from dawn until dusk catching insects and bringing the food back to the house. I can't even imagine how many trips they make in a day.

And the baby swallows never seem to get full!

It all makes for excellent cat television!

The Swallows

It has been a very busy week here with our Swallow families. This year, the Violet-Green Swallows took up residency in five of our birdhouses. During the first weekend of July, all five house had hungry babies and the parents were feeding them from Sunrise to Sunset every night. But within the last week, three sets of babies have left the nests. The house pictured above is our newest house that we just added this Spring. It is still full of hungry babies, including this one looking out for the returning parents.

This swallow house, hung on the front side of our house, is the other still with occupants.

This was the first house we put up many years ago. It was very busy this Spring but now stands empty.

This house still had chicks early yesterday morning. I was going to take a picture of the two fat chicks who kept looking out the door hole, but didn't have my camera in hand. When I came back to look later Sunday, the house was empty!

And this is the other recently deserted house. The Violet-Green Swallow are still around, but are most noticeable early in the morning and in the evenings as they swarm the skies around our house for bugs.

And our Barn Swallow babies, who flew for the first time on Monday, July 4th, are now mostly gone from the nest for good. The parents however have been seen doing a little touch-up work on this nest. We think they are doing some minor repair work in preparation for the female laying a second set of eggs.

An Empty Nest..Sort of!

Yesterday the last two Barn Swallow babies took flight. The first two babies left the nest last week, but have been returning in the evenings to sleep. The last two chicks seemed smaller in size and didn't appear very interested in leaving the comfort of the nest. But when I came out this morning, the nest was empty.

Then I heard a familiar chirp and found one of the babies sitting on top of the fireplace, not 5 feet from the nest! He even managed to get his parents to feed him there a couple of times.

Then the parents sat on top of the PVC poles of the vegetable garden, chipping back at the baby. I think they were telling him he could fly now and catch his own bugs.

Eventually he did fly away, although both babies kept coming back to the nest over the course of the day. And as evening set both were back in the nest for the night. This learning to fly stuff is exhausting!

The Barn Swallows - Part 2

Ten days ago, I posted about our many swallow families that we have this summer. Just this week, most of the Violet-Green Swallow babies have left the nests and the houses are now empty. The Barn Swallows, however, are still feeding and growing. And we learned in the last week that we don't have 3 babies like we thought- but there are 4 as you can see. The beautifully crafted nest that seemed so big when the parents built it is now filled to the rafters. Yesterday afternoon I discovered 2 of the babies out of the nest, 1 on the ground. Thankfully all 3 outdoor cats were inside at the time. I grabbed a ladder and after a bit of chasing returned both to the safety of the nest. Hopefully they have learned their lesson!

Swallows

Each Spring we are fortunate to have swallows return to our area sometime in March. The first day that you hear their familiar chirp, and then tilt you head back and find them high in the sky, always is special. Every year it seems that their numbers increase and the battles over housing escalate. In response, we keep buying birdhouses and putting them up. We have 6 up this year and 5 were claimed. The newest swallow house was hung at the front of our house and can be viewed up close on the staircase landing. The indoor cats quickly discovered this and have greatly enjoyed "swallow tv" this year.

Here is an up close picture of that house. As you can see, the chicks in it have hatched. I caught this little guy waiting for one of the parents to return with some food.

This house is also hanging on the front of our house, at the opposite end from the green swallow house. It also is full of hungry chicks.

This house hangs on the side of our house, directly over one of the garage doors. The noise and cars don't seem to bother the swallows at all.

This house is also on the east end of our house. While you can't see anyone inside of it, each time the parents return with food it erupts with noise.

This house hangs on the shop building. It was the first house we ever put up and has hosted a family every year. If you look closely you can make out the chick in the entrance hole.

This year we are fortunate to have a pair of Barn Swallows. They initially tried to make their home in both garages but we asked them to look elsewhere! They finally picked one of the pillars the back patio. Over about two weeks they slowly hauled in mud and grass and built up their amazing nest. Their chicks just hatch a week or so ago. We have spied 3 bald little heads poking up when the parents return.