Barn Swallow babes

We’ve been very busy preparing for and conducting a Service Dog Handler Instruction event, where we transfer our clients’ dogs back to them, after having trained them as fully functioning assistance dogs. A couple of days ago, on the eve of the three-day event, I went out to feed the patio-pond fishes and water my plants. I ached to go out-and-about the property where I might encounter something wonderful, but I was too busy and it was getting late.

Then, across the yard, I saw it. It was something I had been anticipating – worrying that I would miss this season. This is the time of year when the Barn Swallow chicks leave their nests, but not their dependence upon their parents. For a few days, the chicks take orders from their parents to hold position so that they can feed them. There were four different lines of two to five chicks perched atop the fence, not more than 45 feet away. What I thought was an event I was likely to miss because of our work schedule, actually brought the action right to my back door.

The little groups (nest mates) were not-so-patiently waiting for their parents to return with supper. Between what I’m sure the chicks thought were very long delays, the adults birds swooped in and quickly feed their babes a meal they had nabbed on the wing. I quickly went back into my office to gather my camera.

The late afternoon sun didn’t help create the best images, but here are some of the pretty good shots I was able to capture.

In the next photo, it appears that a bee in on the menu! I looked it up, and learned that Barn Swallows do, indeed, eat bees and wasps and many other types of insects. House flies and Horseflies top the list, per one of the references I read.

It’s interesting to note (at least based on my observations), that the chicks tend to alert and open wide when a parent approaches, but ignore other adults that are flying by on their way to their own little set of chicks. I’m pretty sure that the next photo is an example of that behavior. I suspect the parent birds present a call or other signal in advance of their arrival.

The next images is an enlarged version of the one above. It’s interesting that the parent bird swooped right over the back of the chick on the left!

I wonder how often a parent bird sustains an eye injury during feeding? In the next photo it appears that the parent bird had closed it nictitating membrane (or second eyelid) to offer some level of protection.

I shot these photos on Friday, but couldn’t process them until now. I just came back from our training class, while Robert is still working with the folks. On my way back from the training building, I didn’t see any Barn Swallow chicks staged and waiting to be fed. I’m so happy I went out to water my plants when I did last Friday. It seems that most of the chicks are probably out practicing feeding while flying.