"Ever See A Barn Swallow?"

Seems a couple of these here fellas have decided on the perfect place to build their nest.

I was sittin' in my office at home when I glanced out the window and noticed 'em perched up on the gutter. They looked to be havin' some serious bird type discussion, turnin' their heads toward one another and commentin', then lookin off down the length of the gutter. The male has a red blaze across his chest and was all puffed up like he was makin' the real decisions in this conversation. The female, noddin' away in agreement (all the while knowin' where that nest was gonna end up no matter what he said*G*).

I've got one of those white roll up blinds outside my window and lo and behold when I stepped outside the next day here was dried mud and gunk all along the top of it! I went over and slowly rolled it down and then back up again to see what effect it might have on their nest buildin'. Hmmm, as long as I did it gently, didn't seem to shake the nest at all much.

After a week, it really had become a nest. They'd been doing most of their building in the early mornin' or late evenin' hours and had managed to almost complete it (I'm really not sure if birds have an understanding of the concept of "complete" or "finished", as they are constantly remodelin').

This mornin' I stepped out on the porch, looked over my left shoulder at the nest and there they were, both tucked inside peepin' over the edge at me like they wanted to see what my reaction would be or if I even noticed 'em. Bein' the cordial kind of fella I am, I said, "Mornin' you two." They must not understand human cause they didn't respond, but at least they didn't fly off or anything.

Guess now, when the sun streamin' through the window gets too bright or starts reflectin' off my screen round about sunset, I'll have to wander out there and be reeeal careful about droppin' that blind....don't want no eggs fallin' on my head!

Pattie wanted me to wash it off with the hose while they were building so they'd go off somewhere else. Naw, gotta let nature take it's 'course. Besides, it's where the female planned on puttin' it all the time*EBG*

Laws (Of Feathered Friends)
6/24/98


Update: July 15th. We got three babies already...talk about yer "over easy"*G*

Contents

This page hosted by