Friday, July 4, 2008

Porch Swallows (Gulp!)

They have finally made their debut. For weeks, we watched the barn swallows repairing the old nest on the kitchen porch, and then we watched them brooding their eggs.

For several days, we watched Mama and Papa swallow coming to the nest with tasty tidbits in their beaks, and leaving with fecal sacs.

And yesterday, it happened! One-two-three-four-five of the ugliest, most adorable little heads peaked over the edge of the nest.

Now we can watch Mama and Papa feeding those tasty tidbits to the quints. About once a minute, all afternoon, they swoop in under the roof of the porch making their little chittery noises. And the quints rear up, mouths at the the ready. I thought raising human babies was tough!

Making a nest on our kitchen porch is a bit like trying to build a house over an alligator pit, what with all the cats prowling around. Kevin says that barn swallows don't leave the nest until they are ready to be strong flyers, so I don't have to worry about any of the quints hopping around on the ground. I hope he's right.

Meanwhile, they're alive and growing, and I figure there's no point in worrying too hard about tomorrow. It's nice to be thought of as "homey" by swallows.

Isn't life wonderful?

8 comments:

Regina said...

Oh. My. Goodness.
Look at them!
It certainly is the time for baby birds as we have had our fair share as well! Our beloved cardinal pair have a lovely nest in our startfruit tree- it's very well protected but the babies are so loud!
Thanks for posting these pictures- the babies are rather "interesting looking" in a cute sort of way!

Shawna Roberts said...

"for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come,
And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance."
Song of Solomon 2:11-13

Regina said...

What a lovely scripture passage- thanks, Shawna. Oh, and I like the Emily Dickinson line at the top of your blog as well! ;)

Shawna Roberts said...

Ditto.

"The revery alone will do
If bees are few." ;)

wendy said...

So cute...

kevin roberts said...

Squab!

Oops, I'm a vegetarian.

Allison said...

Cute!!!

Shawna Roberts said...

Hi, Wendy! Hi, Allison!
They really Are cute. Kevin averted total tragedy when the nest fell down, the other day. He made a little cardboard box to hold the surviving nestling, and the swallows are vigorously stuffing him full.

As for you, Mr. Hero-of-the-nestlings.... squab! Humph!