New Swallow

I have my regular stream of bird visitors this summer, grackles, redwings, mourning doves, chickadees, cardinals, house finches, house sparrows, chipping sparrows,  goldfinches.

The past two years I have had tree swallows using the nest boxes, and it was disappointing this year, when the house sparrows took over both boxes. So it was quite exciting when I saw four swallows swooping around the willows the other day. One landed, and stayed quite awhile. It appeared to be a fledgling, unsure of itself, looking around, not sure what to do next. Maybe the parents had brought him by to show him off.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 5:49 am and is filed under birding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “New Swallow”

Ruth Says:

Do you evict the house sparrows? I would. I have one bird house and red squirrels squatted there and by the time I noticed, I couldn’t take it down as they were quite aggressive. Tree swallows are lovely.

June 24th, 2008 at 6:40 am

Iris Says:

Great shots! We have tree swallows and chimney swifts all over town, but I’ve yet to find any sitting still long enough to snap a shot anywhere as good as yours.

June 24th, 2008 at 8:40 am

JeanMac Says:

In the second picture, he looks quite regal!

June 24th, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Becky Says:

Don’t you just love Swallows? We have a pair of Tree Swallows in my Bluebird house, and a pair of Barn Swallows nesting above a high yard light in the front of our garage. They all terrorize my cat. Swooping down at her as she walks by. It is so funny.

June 24th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Willow Caroline Says:

My middle son really would love barn swallows.. we have the old barn! Do you clean out your birdhouses each year? I read somewhere that one should do so, but I am never sure when to clean the nests out of the bluebird boxes. It seems that this year they did not get used like they have in the past, and I wondered if it was a) because I wasn’t around in the day to notice or b) if we should have cleaned out the nests.

June 25th, 2008 at 6:27 pm

jan Says:

I do clean out my birdhouses. I read in a couple of my birdfeeding books that you should do so at the end of the breeding season. Last year I got around to it in September I believe.

June 25th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

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