We know about barn swallows, cave swallows, chimney swifts, and all their relatives, but not until this year did we get to know the barn swallow up close. In part, we avoided barn swallows because we preferred to shoo them away from building their nest attached to the stucco. So, from the past year's efforts, we had a partially completed nest that we left in place over the last winter. This spring a pair was back again to complete the nest and we agreed to their petition.
Their diligence at nest building caught our attention and we followed along by noting the progress. Nest building seemed slow, but that was because it was so dry, and they needed mud to make an adobe-style nest.
But finally, it appeared that the hen was sitting on eggs; how many we did not know as the nest was high, up near the ceiling of the breezeway.
Finally, it became obvious that the eggs had hatched because both parents were busy all day long hunting for bugs in flight. It was a constant job. The pile of bird droppings on the concrete pad was getting bigger by the day. However, it was suggested that a flowerpot with soil placed under the nest is a good solution to this and so we will try that next year should they return. Later, when we plant seeds in the pot, we should have some good blooms.
For several weeks, the newly hatched birds were so small that they did not show up above the rim of the nest. But soon after, whenever a parent approached the nest from a flight of gathering food, four little gaping mouths appeared just above the rim of the nest. They all yelled, "me, me, me, I am hungry".
This went on for a couple weeks and all the time the parents were hunting for insects and since it has been so dry, insects were scarce. But they continued to grow and get even more demanding.
Finally, the most adventuresome of the four decided it was getting to be high time for a jump out of the nest. Besides, the nest partners were getting annoyed by all the wing flapping to test the flight capability.
Not long after this photo was taken, the one on the left jumped, then the one on the right jumped also. Both rested on the railing of the porch to get their bearings. The others stayed in the nest for another day, but then they too made the big move. The last one was runty, and when it jumped from the nest, it landed on the concrete floor directly below the nest almost no flight at all. But then with some wild flapping of wings, it was able to make the railing for a sigh of relief.
Then, all four decided on the best way to celebrate their new skills at flying by whirling around in the breezeway in a parade-like style.
Here is the parade of the four barn swallows. The video can be seen by doing a search using "barn swallow graduation day" on the web, as it will take you directly to my YouTube channel.
Little by little, the four would make forays in the sky of the back yard practicing flight maneuvers and probably finding some insects. They apparently were feeding themselves as we saw no evidence that the parents were teaching them about catching insects in flight. They flew only for 15 minutes at a time, then returned to the nest for rest.
As we were watching them cavort in the sky of the backyard, they seemed to like our presence as they would commonly swoop under the roof where we were sitting and fly on by us to brag to us about their flight skills. We enjoyed their close visits.
Every night they returned to their nests for sleep. I say nests because by now the four are using their original nest and last year's phoebe nest on the other end of the porch. Four birds are now too big to fit into one nest.
We will keep track of them throughout the summer and will update this post when we note that they have left for winter times in the south.
Update.
Well, they left after swinging by in one last swoop to say goodbye. That was about July 6th. Its early for them to leave Texas but with no rain, they probably could not find food. Makes sense to us.
