With a wisp of spring in the air, I finally got around to the annual
task of taking down the swallow nest box and scrubbing it out for their
return. A sad task, because inside I found four dead chicks, fully
feathered. Nesting began so late last year, we first observed chicks at
the entrance about the time they would normally fledge. Eleven days
later, I found one fledgling on the ground nearby, and later I observed
one fledgling successfully perched on the roof, while another chick
hesitated to leave the box. I don't know whether it left, or is one of
the four that succumbed, but that totals at least six chicks.

I recall other Tweeters discussions about parent swallows abandoning
nest boxes in that very late spring. Ours never mustered the usual
excited swirl of encouragement that coaxes the chicks out; I think
they'd been gone several days already when the two fledgings happened.
Conjecture was that they were worn out, and/or not able to find the
right insects to feed their broods.

On the remote chance that anyone wants the abandoned nest and remains
for study (they are pretty well mummified and odorless), I've kept it in
a plastic bag secured outside in the shady cold. If I don't hear from
anyone, I'll return it to the earth in the tall grass of our alley.

Hope the swallows have a better time of it this year.

Kristi Hein
Anacortes

khc
at
picturesandwords.com