Right on time.
The scout swallow was in the barn first thing yesterday morning, 15 April. That just amazes me!
Better Late Than never!
11 years ago
Showing posts with label swallows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swallows. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Dancing on the Ceiling
It must have been a tough trip. The swallows have been dribbling in a pair or two at a time all week long. Saturday the barn was just swarming with them.
Saturday 10 May. A full house!
The swallows are a huge "rhythm of life" thing around the barn. Of course they're courting and setting up house now. The males put on their best show and the females pick out the one they like the best. They have an awful lot to say while all this is going on.
This looks like tons of fun
Sometimes they build new nests but they'll use last year's if they're still up. They tidy them up and maybe give them a personal touch.
See the horse hair woven into the nest? Their nests are made of mud.
Oh, and another huge thing about having the swallows around the barn? Each one on a typical day will eat between 800 and 900 bugs. And when they're feeding babies? Forget it! It's like rush hour from dawn to dusk. So...do the math. Twenty breeding pairs of swallows will eat maybe 34k bugs *every* day!
The swallows are a huge "rhythm of life" thing around the barn. Of course they're courting and setting up house now. The males put on their best show and the females pick out the one they like the best. They have an awful lot to say while all this is going on.
Sometimes they build new nests but they'll use last year's if they're still up. They tidy them up and maybe give them a personal touch.
Oh, and another huge thing about having the swallows around the barn? Each one on a typical day will eat between 800 and 900 bugs. And when they're feeding babies? Forget it! It's like rush hour from dawn to dusk. So...do the math. Twenty breeding pairs of swallows will eat maybe 34k bugs *every* day!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
April Highlights
Around here we thought spring would *never* get here!
Mud season persisted. And you know about mud season and horses!
What?
That *really* is a white horse! Of course, they all look like that. You just notice it a whole lot more on him!
But spring did finally get here. Officially! You see, L is very funny. Most horses start to shed their winter coats by the end of February and lose their hair by the handful until it's gone sometime in April. Not L. She hardly loses a hair until...one day...in April...she decides she doesn't need her coat anymore and I swear...
19 April
In 2 days...it's gone. She sheds her entire coat in a single day with a little touch up the next day. I must take 30 lbs of hair off of her! Around the barn we think of that as the real first day of spring.
Listening to the radio the other day on my way to work one of the radio personalities commented on how, in the whole month of April, we had one day we didn't need jackets. Actually, I think we had two.
Saturday 12 April. It was a nice day!
But, you see, the trouble with this time of year is that means we've probably only had two nice days this year. And probably two nice days in almost 6 months! We did have a nice day in January. So we've had 3 nice days this year.
April is also most notable for the return of the barn swallows. The barn swallows came back this year on Thursday 24 April. Just a little late this year! I don't keep a thorough diary but usually they're back between the 15th and 20th. This year there are only 4 of them. I don't know what to think of that!..while we usually have a barn just teaming with swallows this year we have only 4. I don't know what to make of it. Usually the barn swarms with swallows and one year I think I lost count at somewhere near 30 nests! Maybe it was a tough winter for swallows?
Finally...I knew I'd like this.
I try to keep from having preconceptions when I try new beers. That's why I *never* read reviews before I have a new beer. I read the reviews after. As often as not what I think is the best beer ever a lot of people think is crap. I'm not out to educate my palate or become more refined. I just want to make up my own mind. But here we have a Trappist beer and I like the Trappist beers. But this one is special. The only recognized Trappist brewery in the United States is 46 miles away. They're the same bunch that makes the Trappist preserves. We're practically neighbors!
I got out a couple of weekends and cleared some brush to access new trails I'm eager to bring L on. These aren't really challenging trails but they'll be different enough to be interesting. This month has been so wet I'm beginning to think the puddles are vernal pools! We'll get our butts out there as soon as things dry a little bit.
Oh! The last big sighting for April? Wednesday. 30 April. I saw the first ferns coming up!
Edit to add:
I heard a White-throated Sparrow last Saturday 26 April. While everything else has been late this spring I think that's about the earliest I've ever heard a White-throated Sparrow. They're just passing through. They spend the summer in Maine. The Maine woods are full of them and they always remind me of Maine.
That *really* is a white horse! Of course, they all look like that. You just notice it a whole lot more on him!
But spring did finally get here. Officially! You see, L is very funny. Most horses start to shed their winter coats by the end of February and lose their hair by the handful until it's gone sometime in April. Not L. She hardly loses a hair until...one day...in April...she decides she doesn't need her coat anymore and I swear...
In 2 days...it's gone. She sheds her entire coat in a single day with a little touch up the next day. I must take 30 lbs of hair off of her! Around the barn we think of that as the real first day of spring.
Listening to the radio the other day on my way to work one of the radio personalities commented on how, in the whole month of April, we had one day we didn't need jackets. Actually, I think we had two.
But, you see, the trouble with this time of year is that means we've probably only had two nice days this year. And probably two nice days in almost 6 months! We did have a nice day in January. So we've had 3 nice days this year.
April is also most notable for the return of the barn swallows. The barn swallows came back this year on Thursday 24 April. Just a little late this year! I don't keep a thorough diary but usually they're back between the 15th and 20th. This year there are only 4 of them. I don't know what to think of that!..while we usually have a barn just teaming with swallows this year we have only 4. I don't know what to make of it. Usually the barn swarms with swallows and one year I think I lost count at somewhere near 30 nests! Maybe it was a tough winter for swallows?
Finally...I knew I'd like this.
I try to keep from having preconceptions when I try new beers. That's why I *never* read reviews before I have a new beer. I read the reviews after. As often as not what I think is the best beer ever a lot of people think is crap. I'm not out to educate my palate or become more refined. I just want to make up my own mind. But here we have a Trappist beer and I like the Trappist beers. But this one is special. The only recognized Trappist brewery in the United States is 46 miles away. They're the same bunch that makes the Trappist preserves. We're practically neighbors!
I got out a couple of weekends and cleared some brush to access new trails I'm eager to bring L on. These aren't really challenging trails but they'll be different enough to be interesting. This month has been so wet I'm beginning to think the puddles are vernal pools! We'll get our butts out there as soon as things dry a little bit.
Oh! The last big sighting for April? Wednesday. 30 April. I saw the first ferns coming up!
Edit to add:
I heard a White-throated Sparrow last Saturday 26 April. While everything else has been late this spring I think that's about the earliest I've ever heard a White-throated Sparrow. They're just passing through. They spend the summer in Maine. The Maine woods are full of them and they always remind me of Maine.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Seasons Change
Funny. I always note when the barn swallows arrive in the Spring. But I never note when they leave!
24 August 2012 - Suddenly it's very quiet around here.
We had *hundreds* of swallows in the barn this year. One day I counted over 30 nests when I lost count. There were 2 flights of chicks this season. Flocks of swallows are called "flights". If you know swallows then you know how what an appropriate expression that is!
It's not always that way. I think it was 3 years ago we had a cold wet Summer. There was just one flight that season. I don't think a single chick survived. It was very sad and we wondered if they'd ever come back.
12 May. Aerial ballet.
17 June. Swallows *everywhere*.
We'll poop on you
On a couple of occasions the barn literally swarmed with swallows. They'll come at you right between the eyes. So close you can pick out individual hairs around their little nostrils. Then they'll cut and go over your shoulder. You get so used to it you don't even flinch.
And they often have a lot to say. I'm always wondering to myself what it is they have so much to say about. All sounds the same to me.
They're on their way to South America now and it's very very quiet around the barn.
I couldn't help but notice it's getting dark noticeably earlier. The farm stands have fresh peaches and the fields are starting to fade.
The bugs are getting lazy and even the trees are turning!
25 August. See there? Left center?
Any day now it's going to be apple season. Seems like Summer barely started.
Edited (9/3/2012) to add see? Wha'd I tell ya.
We had *hundreds* of swallows in the barn this year. One day I counted over 30 nests when I lost count. There were 2 flights of chicks this season. Flocks of swallows are called "flights". If you know swallows then you know how what an appropriate expression that is!
It's not always that way. I think it was 3 years ago we had a cold wet Summer. There was just one flight that season. I don't think a single chick survived. It was very sad and we wondered if they'd ever come back.
On a couple of occasions the barn literally swarmed with swallows. They'll come at you right between the eyes. So close you can pick out individual hairs around their little nostrils. Then they'll cut and go over your shoulder. You get so used to it you don't even flinch.
And they often have a lot to say. I'm always wondering to myself what it is they have so much to say about. All sounds the same to me.
They're on their way to South America now and it's very very quiet around the barn.
I couldn't help but notice it's getting dark noticeably earlier. The farm stands have fresh peaches and the fields are starting to fade.
The bugs are getting lazy and even the trees are turning!
Any day now it's going to be apple season. Seems like Summer barely started.
Edited (9/3/2012) to add see? Wha'd I tell ya.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
They're baaaaack...
Wednesday afternoon, 20 April, 4:58 pm, the barn swallows came back!
What are you looking at? (June 2003)
I didn't see the scout swallows this year so their arrival wasn't expected. They're not quite as reliable as the miracle swallows are but they're close. Every year they're back at the same time give or take a few days. These are North American swallows. They've been in Costa Rica or Panama all winter.
I don't know exactly what it is about the swallows. Sure their return is as sure a sign of Spring as the peepers. And they eat bugs. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of bugs. But it's more than that. Their flying skills are just amazing and they always strike me as having fun. They'll fly the length of the barn and come at you right between the eyes. At the last instant they'll cut left or right. They're so close you can see the little hairs around their nostrils. You get used to it and after a couple of days you don't even duck anymore.
And you should see them dive bomb the cats!
In a good year we've lost count of the chicks at around a hundred.
June 2003
And in a bad year? We had that cold wet summer a few years ago, I don't know if any of the chicks survived. That was rather sad. Those birds worked their butts off and there just weren't enough bugs to feed the chicks.
The day the chicks learn to fly is pretty funny stuff. They're obviously clueless and they're scared to death and sometimes it takes a day or two to persuade them to take the leap.
But when they get started there's no stopping them and they make it look like tons of fun!
We call it Flight School.
I didn't see the scout swallows this year so their arrival wasn't expected. They're not quite as reliable as the miracle swallows are but they're close. Every year they're back at the same time give or take a few days. These are North American swallows. They've been in Costa Rica or Panama all winter.
I don't know exactly what it is about the swallows. Sure their return is as sure a sign of Spring as the peepers. And they eat bugs. Hundreds and hundreds of pounds of bugs. But it's more than that. Their flying skills are just amazing and they always strike me as having fun. They'll fly the length of the barn and come at you right between the eyes. At the last instant they'll cut left or right. They're so close you can see the little hairs around their nostrils. You get used to it and after a couple of days you don't even duck anymore.
And you should see them dive bomb the cats!
In a good year we've lost count of the chicks at around a hundred.
And in a bad year? We had that cold wet summer a few years ago, I don't know if any of the chicks survived. That was rather sad. Those birds worked their butts off and there just weren't enough bugs to feed the chicks.
The day the chicks learn to fly is pretty funny stuff. They're obviously clueless and they're scared to death and sometimes it takes a day or two to persuade them to take the leap.
But when they get started there's no stopping them and they make it look like tons of fun!
We call it Flight School.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
