We Have Been Invaded!

The invasion has begun. My brother, who is a big cheese in the Department of Energy, but not one of the stinky kinds, and is also a biologist, has informed me that it has only started. I have to completely obliterate all evidence of the invasion or it will only get worse each year.

Last year barn swallows kept building nests on top of the fluorescent light fixtures. Lee kept knocking them down and eventually they went away. What we did not know is that they come back and can smell where they have been. So now they are back and have two nests, but only one with babies. I wouldn't knock down a nest with babies in it and a good thing, too, as Roland ( my brother) tells me that would be illegal. Not that anyone would know what I do in my little barn in the middle of nowhere. But I still wouldn't want to do anything illegal...or at least I wouldn't want to get caught!!




Roland told me that I have to completely obliterate the evidence....poop and nests, as they can smell their spit in the nest and the poop, well, good luck with that. There are HORSES in this barn and massive piles of processed hay are a daily event. Preposterous pile of processed ....OK I ran out of Ps. So if they can follow their noses (beaks?) back to this barn, we have to do some serious cleaning. I told Roland that I thought we could build little blocks of wood with nails poking through the top to discourage them. He said they can build nests in corners. We have to get rid of everything or parents and babies will come back. They probably will anyway, but we will make the effort.




But not now. Now we have cute little babies. They are very quiet for baby birds. No constant peeping. I guess that is a survival thing. They have feathers, now, so I guess they will be leaving soon. Every time we go into the barn, the parents come swooping out. They fly around outside in great agitation.




A few days ago Lee found one of the just fledged babies on the ground outside the barn. Flying lessons must have commenced. RJ was VERY interested in it. Lee had to put him away and shoo the bird away from the mouth of the barn. He flew in short hops into the taller grass. The next evening I saw that all three babies were back in the nest, so I guess he managed to get back home on his own. They are getting big so the nest is getting crowded. I think the teenagers will have to move on soon. Empty nest syndrome, here we come. I don't think it will be the problem for me that some people have.