baby birds, take one

Remember the purple martin birdhouse we put up again in May? It has been a full house since the moment it went back into place. Quite a few purple martins call it home, but barn swallows and tree swallows have also taken up residence. And true to their name, the barn swallows have nested in our barn for years now.

This year the fledglings have been hanging out en masse on our roof, both in the front and back. We have never noticed this before, but they are certainly more delightful than the roof visitors we had back in March.


As you can tell, Dusty hates turkey vultures, and barks like a maniac at the sky every time one dares to enter his air zone. He hasn't figured out that they don't have any reason to pay him the slightest bit of mind.

Back to much more attractive barn swallows: a few of them have been hanging out on the roof overhang right outside our bedroom window lately.

As soon as an adult swallow approaches they start fluttering their wings and doing their best impressions of a helpless baby bird.

The fly-by feedings are so quick, I couldn't capture one on film. The adult had already fed the baby on the left below and was already turning back for more bug hunting by the time my slow fingers snapped this shot.

Typical teenagers! They can obviously fly well enough to get themselves up there, but they are perfectly willing to play the helpless infants if it means their parents will spoonfeed them a meal.