They're camping above our doorstep

Photo by Randy Moll Six barn swallow fledglings look out of a front-porch nest in Gentry. Though the nesting pair has received an eviction notice, a reprieve was granted to allow the young to mature enough to survive on their own.
Photo by Randy Moll Six barn swallow fledglings look out of a front-porch nest in Gentry. Though the nesting pair has received an eviction notice, a reprieve was granted to allow the young to mature enough to survive on their own.

On the front porch and close to the front door may not be the most desirable place for them to be, and the mess below will definitely require a hose and broom or scrub brush to remove; but the nest was full of little swallows and they do eat flying insects I'd rather not have around.

When she saw the nest, my wife asked me to knock it down. But when I told her it was full of babies, she agreed to a reprieve -- at least until the young leave the nest. What I didn't tell her was that barn swallows usually have two hatches of eggs in the same nest during a season; so, perhaps the nest will get another reprieve if I wait long enough for it to be full once again.

Perhaps, if I tell her that swallows perform a superb job of controlling mosquitoes and flies around a home, eating the equivalent of their body weight in flying insects each day, and without the use of sprays and insecticides which kill other birds and animals, she'll be glad they're there in spite of the mess. That could be why the mosquitoes which began showing up after all the rains quickly disappeared, and why the house flies which can be such a nuisance are an exception.

And yes, it's amazing to watch them fly, maneuvering almost effortlessly in pursuit of their insect prey. Man-made aircraft often model their sleek designs after the barn swallow.

Watching the little ones peek over the edge of the nest and, as they matured, perching around its half-bowl cup was worth the mess. While the adult birds usually took to flight when we used the front door, the young birds just watched us as we looked at them in amazement. At first we saw four. Then a fifth showed its head. And, when I had determined there were five fledglings, six stared down at me as I snapped a final photo of the young birds before they took to flight.

Perhaps if I quickly clean up the mess below, the nest can stay a little longer -- just in case.

And if the swallows can stay for the season, perhaps I can invite them back by building a few nesting boxes in better places for us than on the front porch by the door. The birds nest almost exclusively on man-made structures, so the best way to encourage them is to make a structure suitable for the birds which is also suitable for us.

There are nest box instructions online, so I'll have to work on that over the winter months and have things in place before the arrival of spring and the return of the swallows next season. And, if all the young that hatched and fledged from our front porch survive their migration to return, it might be good if our neighbors put out a few nesting boxes too -- to enjoy the birds and to keep down the mosquitoes and flies.

Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He can be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Editorial on 06/24/2015