Full House

     When we are in our kitchen, we are literally surrounded by swallows.  There’s a pun there somewhere, but I’m speaking of the bird variety of swallows.  To the east and the west of us, they are busy all summer long.
     It is barn swallows who make their nest in the corner of the porch overhang adjacent to our kitchen garden to the east, conveniently located just outside the perfect ‘viewing window.’  They have been refurbishing the same nest for years – a tribute to its sturdiness and to that protected area where the first Mr. and Mrs. Swallow chose to build.  I don’t know how long swallows live but, over the years, I’ve made the assumption that they use the nest for a few years and then one of the next generations takes over.  However it works, two batches of hatchlings are raised there each summer and we have a ‘bird’s eye view’ of the process, so to speak.
      To the west, actually within the west wall, we have tree swallows.  We can hear the babies peeping and cheeping all day long and into the evening.  They are very demanding little creatures.  We have to go outside to see their parents swooping around after mosquitoes and other flying insects and then darting into an opening at the end of a piece of trim – an opening so small we can hardly see it and consistently forget is there when we don’t hear the birds.  So, of course, all of our resolutions about fixing it never come to fruition.
     We lament that the birds are messy and we try not to think what we’ll find inside the wall if we ever get around to looking.  However, the entertainment value is worth the fall clean-up chores.  And best of all, we feel that we get an insider’s view of Mother Nature at work.