Hi All,

The Barn Swallows have 5 fledged from the second brood now, and they put them back on the nest every night, after checking it first, around 6 pm. But one kid, a tremendous flyer already, gets to stay out late tonight.

For a couple of days, back at fledging time, other swallows congregated around the house. Were they just Barn Swallows passing through, or were they all descendants of this nest site? Don?t know. But it made for a great scene as 17 Barn Swallows swooped and glided all around the homestead. Another time it helped out as 7 very upset Barn Swallows encouraged a pale adult male Coopers Hawk to go find another ambush-tree.

At one point, all the 8 or so visiting swallows seemed to want to see the actual nest area, (there are two nests in the small front stoop area). As a result, many birds were in the front stoop at once, flying in and back out repeatedly, and checking it out. Kind of like the parents said, ?let?s show you-all around the house.?

Finally the anxiety is dying down. For the week around fledging, there was a crisis every 25 minutes or so, some real, like the two Coopers fly-bys, but some seemingly over-rated, like when three children walk up the other side of the street. Whenever the crisis begins, we hear what I hear as ?Ba Cheek? repeatedly. Immediately as soon as the danger begins to pass away we hear what I hear as ?Wheep?, a very sweet upward note, repeatedly. Whenever I hear ?Wheep,? I know I can go back to what I was doing. Chattering goes on at other times.

Well, I hope I?m not over-indulging my tweeters membership. I realize, Barn Swallows aren?t exactly a red-letter sighting around here. All they are is a reason to appreciate life and be thankful for it,--and to shed a tear for Jason Starfire, among so many others, lately.

Thanks for your patience, Ed Newbold residential Beacon Hill, newboldwildlife at netscape.net


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