The original owners of our house built an assortment of bird nesting boxes directly onto the house... and even though I am more familiar with birdhouses as something you hang up trees, these seem to be used quite diligently by our local population of feathered ones.
One such box is attached to the side of our shed, seems to be a favorite home for swallows; they have been using it for years, so I'm guessing it must be a multi-generational thing, by now.
One of the young ones, peering out
Seems like we have almost always had swallows nesting on/near our house.
Normally, they seem to like building and attaching their own clay structures directly to the sides of the house — typically under the eaves — like they did at our old place, where this picture was taken:
On top of a light bulb, of all places...
The ones that nested on top of the floodlights on our old garage also came back year after year... at least they nest in the summer when the days are long, so not being able to turn on the lights for a few months wasn't a huge issue.
Strange place to choose to have a nest, though...
The current generation we don't get to see much... because they tend to stay completely hidden in their little "house." We hear them though, and every now and then we spot the parents coming and going.
This is actually the first time in many years we have caught a glimpse of the youngsters!
Young swallow, contemplating the world...
In a few days, I expect they'll be gone for another season... for the moment, we enjoy the tiny faces examining the big world.
Mom still comes by every few minutes to feed them.
MOM! Where are you??? I'm HUNGRY!!
I find it very restful to just hide around the corner and watch them... a gentle reminder that in spite of all the Covid and Chaos in the world, nature just continues doing it's thing.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
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Created at 20200724 10:54 PDT
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