Do Barn Swallows always return to the nest for a few nights after
fledging?

Yesterday morning there were 3 Barn Swallow nestlings in my deck nest
and 4 in the carport nest. All seemed near fledging. Then, yesterday
after being away from the house for an hour, I returned and found only
one nestling in the deck nest. Did the Cooper's Hawk get the two other
nestlings (he killed the first brood in that same nest) or did they
fledge while I was gone? I saw the Cooper's several times in the past
three days. The parents stayed away from the nest most of the day
yesterday, and when they did approach the nest, I believe they were
trying to get the last nestling to fledge rather than feeding him. At
dusk one of the parents roosted near the nest with the last nestling.
At 7am this morning the nest was empty.

Also, at 7am this morning the carport nest had 3 swallows in it, not 4.
One of the three nestlings flew a short distance to a nearby perch.
Throughout the morning around 15 swallows flew under and around the
carport. I couldn't tell if they were all adults or if some juveniles
were among them. When I checked the nest again later, all the nestlings
were gone. Now there are no more swallows flying around my property.

So what are the odds that all 7 of the swallows made it safely out of
the nest? And how much am I to blame for putting the swallows in danger
by feeding the other birds and attracting Cooper's Hawks?

Linda Bainbridge
Greenbank, Whidbey Island, Washington
lbainbridge at uicalumni.org <mailto:lbainbridge at uicalumni.org>