As we go about our business in the barn, we have a lot of loud company, each adding their own distinct sound to the mix. Along with the cows, calves, a family of cats and our pair of pigs, Thelma and Lou in their outside pen, we have barn swallows.
These graceful birds with their deeply forked tails dart hither and yon almost the entire length of our barn. For the most part, however, they stay close to the end of the barn where the doors remain wide open during the summer. There they have an adjacent highway to the great outdoors and a little nest tucked up in one of our ceiling beams.
During a rain they can be seen deep-lunging and gliding across our yard, frisky as children let out to play after a long stretch indoors. They dart low and then, quickly changing direction, soar high. When they rest, they perch on the electric wire looping high above our yard. Today I spotted two swallows, sitting tight together on the wire — one facing one direction, one in another — and, from my view, creating a heart-shaped form. Really, they did!
I’m amazed at their quick, diving, swooping flight, but the most remarkable thing about these birds is that for the past three or four years, one has been returning to the little nest she built along our barn ceiling beam. We believe it is the same bird coming here every season to raise her young in that very same nest. Can that be possible? She leaves us in the fall and returns each spring.
Right now, there are three little heads sticking out of the nest. They are crammed together in that tiny cocoon and look so snug and cute. Every now and again I pause in my work in the barn and crane my neck back as I stand there looking up at them. No matter how I feel, it puts a smile on my face. Soon, I’m sure, they’ll have to leave, as their nest looks like it’s quickly running out of room!
The other morning I saw the momma bring them food. They were leaning so far over I thought they’d tumble out. She flew away and they kept their mouths open wide ready to grab and gulp when she swept back in.
The swallows feast on the barn flies, so I don’t mind them flying around me as I work. They have their own radar and dart away as soon as they get too close. I have a niece that, let’s just say, does not like birds, and that’s putting it mildly. A few years ago, once in a while she’d milk for us and always commented on the “lovely” birds flitting in and out just over her head. She’d shudder, recalling. She has never seen the 1963 movie “The Birds” directed by Alfred Hitchcock and I don’t think she ever should. I wouldn’t recommend it.
The swallows love to tease and pester the cats. They squawk and fuss at them, swooping very low whenever the cats get too close to their nest. They put up an awful screeching, sidelining the cats away from their precious offspring. It’s quite something to see, actually.
Along with the mooing cows, the bellering calves, the mewing cats, the grunting, squealing, snorting pigs, (they can get loud!), we also have squawking barn swallows. Quite the symphony going on at the Reminger farmstead!
(“Birds find nooks and crannies in your house, sparrows and swallows make nests there. They lay their eggs and raise their young, singing their songs in the place where we worship. God-of-the-Angel-Armies! King! God! How blessed they are to live and sing there!” Psalm 84:3-4, The Message Bible)
Categories
