I was upset today while visiting a feed store in Chimacum--one that, ironically, sells wild bird food and feeders--to look out their window and see a man removing an active barn swallow nest from a light fixture in their attached gas station while changing out the lightbulb. The swallow parents were going nuts. I told the man at the cash register that what I was seeing was illegal and upsetting, and he shrugged and said that people "don't like them crapping on their cars." I then went out to talk the the guy doing the deed. He was unrepentant, saying "do you want it?" The nest had several young birds in it, feathered out but eyes closed still. He said it was a fire hazard having them in the light fixture, though I can't see how it was a fire hazard as long as the bulb was burned out but intact. He then set the nest on a nearby box, close to the ground and completely exposed to the weather/predators and said "There...safe and sound!"

I was so upset that I didn't have the presence of mind to take photos or video of all this. And if I had, who would I have called to report it to? Fish and Wildlife? Does anyone know?

Feeling as powerless as those poor babies...

Thanks for listening.

Brenda Burnett
Seattle
beaknbird at hotmail dot com