A friend had to leave his barn doors open after repairing his barn to let the new brood of barn swallows finish its nesting. Our common barn swallow likes to build her nest in as inaccessible spot as possible to protect her young. Birds have so many enemies I sometimes wonder how so many continue to make it. Many mammals like squirrels, raccoons, weasels and the common house cat would never pass up a meal of bird eggs or trended young birds. Even snakes, other birds and ants will devour eggs and kill the young.
To protect their young; birds try to hide or place their nests in inaccessible places. Swallows also stand by to defend their nests by diving at high speed at any possible animal or human who may look like a threat to their young. We have watched our cat being dived on and chased away.
A swallow family can build a net out of mud and line it with grass almost anywhere in a barn. Its bill can be opened real wide to scoop up insects on the fly or mud to carry to their nest building site.
They are one of the first birds to head south for the winter as the insects they feed on disappear early. Some may travel thousands of miles to their winter homes.
Their legs let them land and perch on wires and small limbs but don’t let them walk far on the ground.
They like to have their nests in a location close to water. They catch many of their flying meals within inches of the water surface; because of this they are sometimes killed by fish.
Through they are messy at times; because they destroy so many insects everyday they need to be left alone and given every opportunity to rear their brood, even if they chase your cat.
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