I got lucky this year! I have a first-time barn swallow family living under the eaves, just outside of my office window. I get to watch them every day while I work. I haven't seen their baby yet, but it's head should be popping up soon. I think this family is the newest generation of offspring from a pair of swallows that has nested here every year since we've lived in the house.
Our house was vacant for a few years, during which swallows got used to living under the low eaves. Usually they build in higher, or less-accessible spots. They will come back to the exact same nesting spot year after year. Next year I'm planning on painting the house. I'll have to clean off their nests. I'll wait until after they've left for the season, and then hope that the year after that the eaves with the new paint will still be attractive to them
Reminds me....time to build a bunch of bat boxes. Here next to the Laguna, in addition to the swallows, bats are very helpful to keep the mosquito population in check.
Tars
07-04-2007, 08:37 AM
The barnswallows outside my window have two chicks! I've only ever seen swallows have one chick at a time. The parents start working hard at first light to keep those hungry little beepers fed:
Oopsie! My mistake - there aren't two chicks, there are FOUR. Heh...no wonder the parents look tired! That nest is hardly big enough to hold two maturing chicks - I can't see how it can hold four. Someone's going to be pushed out before they take wing. Hmmm...maybe I can rig some sort of net under the nest.
Actually, Tars, it's usual for the number of eggs in a barn swallow nest to be 4-5. So don't fret too much about the parents, they are made for the job. Ornithology was one of my favorite courses in college, and in my senior year I jumped at the chance to conduct a nest-box study. This consisted of climbing up into about 20 trees along a riparian corridor, to which nest boxes had been affixed, for the purpose of encouraging the bluebird population. (Less than 10 were in housekeeping mode and, alas, no bluebirds to be had). Once up the tree, I was then to open the lid of each occupied box and weigh the chicks I found there. Imagine my dismay when, after carefully climbing up into my first small oak, I opened the lid only to have several young birds fly into my face and away to the ground. I was mortified. When I told my professor about it he assured me that the young would not have flown unless they were ready and that the parents would still find them, wherever they had sequestered themselves, and would continue to feed them until they were able to fend for themselves. Having the opportunity to view this amazing process so intimately can be awe inspiring. Enjoy. :):
The barnswallows outside my window have two chicks! I've only ever seen swallows have one chick at a time. The parents start working hard at first light to keep those hungry little beepers fed:
Oopsie! My mistake - there aren't two chicks, there are FOUR. Heh...no wonder the parents look tired! That nest is hardly big enough to hold two maturing chicks - I can't see how it can hold four. Someone's going to be pushed out before they take wing. Hmmm...maybe I can rig some sort of net under the nest.
Actually, Tars, it's usual for the number of eggs in a barn swallow nest to be 4-5. So don't fret too much about the parents, they are made for the job.
Thanks for the info! I've only been able to watch swallows closely since I moved into this house, four or so years. I've mainly watched one pair. At least I assume they're one pair; swallows don't have much in the way of individual markings. This pair uses the same nest over & over. Every year they have one chick, that's it. So I assumed that was the norm.
I'm encouraged that 4-5 is usual. I hope that swallows are like the "bluebirds" your referred to, and will care for fallen chicks. They're easy for me to keep an eye on, right outside the window. I'll take a beak count every morning. I think I may put some kind of net or table a few feet underneath, but above the ground, just in case. There're too many critters, wild & tamed, wandering around the house.
Tars
07-13-2007, 09:35 AM
https://www.rpriddle.com/webpix/barnswallows071307.jpg The barn swallow chicks, now named Huey, Duey, Fuey, & Kabluey (Kabluey is always the one leaning her/his tail end out to take a dump) are really beginning to overflow the nest. They take turns poking their backend out, taking a birdie dump, then ruffling their feathers and flapping their wings.
I estimate that they're 3-4 weeks old right now. They're bigger than their parents! I assume they'll be taking flight lessons shortly. My, it's going to be busy right outside my window once these birds start learning to fly!
Hmmm....where do the parents sleep at night? No room in the nest, do they hang on the side? I'll have to be just a little rude, & put the flash on the camera...
Tars
07-14-2007, 10:26 PM
FIRST FLIGHT!
Sniff! Boohoo, They leave the nest so early!
I saw the first chick leave the nest this afternoon. S/he flapped her wings and dropped down about 3 feet to my window ledge, and clung there confosed, wings all aflutter. Dad & mom quickly appeared and kept darting at him/her, apparently trying to coax her off the ledge. A minute or so later s/he flew the few feet back up to the nest. It all happened too quick for me to grab the camera.
The other chicks are all fluttering their wings a lot too. Looks like it's time for flight school. Dang, I'm headed out for Gualala for a few days; by the time I get back will they all be gone? I hope they'll spend a little time here, getting strong, and learning to hunt.
Will they be like the others here, and nest close to where they were born next year? How many will make it back?
Amazing. I took the first photo when they popped their little heads above the rim of the nest on 7/3. Ten short days later they're already flying. Nature is awesome, even the small fragile bits of it.
Tars
07-19-2007, 10:02 PM
OK, probably the last post about these little critters. I returned from out of town late at night. First thing the next morning, I checked the nest, to see if my little barn swallows were still to home:
Rats! They'd all left! Guess I'll just have to wait until next June, to see if any of the four were able to survive the seasons and the thousands of miles, to return here to nest again.
Then, a couple of hours later, something flashed in front of the window, and I saw one of the hatchlings sitting in the nest. Within a few minutes all four birds showed up on the wires and branches outside the window. They flashed in and out of the nest, never more than three in it at a time. Heh, they're getting so big, I don't think they could all fit in the little thing anyway!
It looked like they'd spent the early morning learning how to catch flying insects, and were returning to the nest for a little nap time. I saw all the hatchlings yawn repeatedly. Bet you didn't know that a swallow yawn lasts about half a second, did you?
They hung around the nest for the rest of the afternoon, flitting in and out, practicing take offs & landings ("touch & gos"). They kept bumping into my window while practicing, driving my cat right up the wall. In the evening they took off again with their parents, to learn more survival skills.
Guess they'll gradually get strong enough to make the trip south. They'll be gone quite soon, I'm sure. Hope they come to see me again next year!
Things I've learned about barn swallows. They travel up to 600 miles day in, day out. That's like flying from Sebastopol to L.A. each and every day! They migrate as far south as Argentina! They commonly have 4-6 chicks each year.
See ya Huey, Duey, Fuey, & Kabluey - happy flying!