I love this time of year. The barn is full of nests and the nests are full of chicks. Every day they seem to get larger . . . and noisier! The cacophony of cheeping that occurs when two nests full of barn swallows are visited by their parents is deafening.
Right now we have two active nests with about nine chicks.
Barn swallows are messy, for sure. Freedom’s back is often covered with droppings. But they are phenomenal insect consumers. Each swallow can eat up to 60 inspects per hour or a whopping 850 per day. For that, I can deal with some mess.
The birds live happily with the horses but they get very concerned when I’m in the barn. The adults dive bomb me and fly so close to my head that I frequently have to duck.
Several years back, we had a bumper swallow year – 48 swallow babies fledged in our little yard. Unfortunately the following summer arrived very late with devastating consequences on the swallows after their return from Africa.
Yes! Anything that eats bugs or rodents is a FRIEND. I saw a fledgling hopping around in the grass this morning, while out on my a.m. ride. He was only able to fly a few feet at a time, hope he makes it.