At this time of year, walking through the barn brings back memories of Hitchcock’s The Birds. Territorial barn swallows dive bomb you, coming so close to your head as you walk down the aisles that
the breeze of their wings makes your hair fly. I know they’re protecting their nests. But seriously? I’m starting to wear my helmet inside the barn as a safety precaution!
Look carefully at the image at the top of the screen. The one on the upper left hangs in space like an angel. It’s distracting me from the one on the right that’s about to do a flyby. At any given time there are usually four to six of these graceful devils swooping above my head.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot to like about the swallows. They are tremendously good at eating insects (each bird eats about 850 insects every day!). They are beautiful, graceful flyers and they are very protective of their young.
Do you have swallows in your barn?