The fledgling barn swallows have learned to fly. Only two were in the nest this morning after my class, and one more came fluttering in while I was standing there.
They are still smaller than their mother and their feathers are muted suggestions of more brilliant colors to come. Their beaks were tiny little pinpoints; so different than the baby bills they had just last week. Well, that was my impression until mama bird swooped in with some extra nutrition—they can still open their mouths to a proportionally frightening size. If they’re still that flexible in the chompers next week, I’m guessing they’ll just eat the mama bird to satisfy their hunger… for… BRAINZ!
Hrm. Sorry about that. I just read the first issue of North 40 (comic book published by Wildstorm) so there are some zombie and Cthulhu-like ideas floating around in my head right now. I can be very impressionable when I’m paying attention.
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The weather was perfect this evening. After a short date at the crowded library (not quite the geek-romantic scene you might be picturing), Ben and I drove into the foothills near our house and discovered a little lookout at the end of a road. I’d cleverly placed that camera in my purse for moments like these, so you can share our view:
Not too shabby for a Tuesday night. The sunset, the twinking lights, the lake, the mountains… the opportunity to procrastinate instead of doing homework.
Categories: Around Town & Beyond, Birds, Comics & Graphic Novels, Friends & Relationships, Geeky, Nature and Weather Tags: baby, baby birds, barn swallow, birds, Comics & Graphic Novels, photographs, skyline, Utah
I’ve been watching this barn swallow all summer on the campus of Utah Valley University. She swoops around, chirping happily with a couple other swallows. Her nest sits atop a junction box in the rafters of a covered breezeway on campus.
Last Thursday, I heard teeny squawks coming from the rafters and looked up to see teeny bird heads poking out! I pulled out my Canon Powershot camera from my purse (which I’ve been carrying around expressly for times like these) and held an impromptu photo shoot. I’m sure it looked weird to people walking by since the nest is somewhat hidden in a back corner about 10 feet up. What can I say… I’m fascinated by nature’s little things. Like those tiny adorable all-beak little birdies!
The mama swallow knew I was there, but that didn’t stop her from darting by every minute or two to cough up some food for her babies. I got a couple decent shots of her hummingbird-speed movements and was surprised by the prominent white spots on her tail. I haven’t had the opportunity to really study barn swallows before… shows how much of a poser birder I am. These birds are “the most abundant and widely distributed swallow species in the world” according to the (helpful and recommended) Cornell Lab of Ornithology.
Today (Monday) was the next chance I had to see them, and they’ve already grown to look like actual birds rather than slimy gerbil babies with beaks. I didn’t have my camera this morning (it was sitting on my desk so I would remember to upload the photos) but I confirmed that there are four fledgling birds who don’t all seem to fit in the nest together anymore. One was sitting on the pipe just above but it doesn’t look like they’ve flown yet. I’ll try to get some photos of them tomorrow.
(Maybe I’m a little less of a poser birder since I created a separate birds set on Flickr?)
