Did you have a nice weekend? I hope so. My weekend included several unusual adventures. Most notably, a pair of barn swallows moved into one of the eaves on our front porch. A pair visited us a couple of years ago and built a nest in the exact same spot ~ perched in the corner above our front door. It was fascinating to watch them assemble their mud nest, keep watch over their eggs, and then feed their babies.
This weekend the current pair of swallows laid a mud foundation for the nest they were planning to construct over our front door. While I was pleased to see the swallows back again, discovering their blueprints for our front porch was bitter-sweet. I'm all for experiencing nature close to home, but these things are messy! I'm pretty sure that regularly cleaning bird droppings from our front door is NOT a hobby I want to re-visit in my current condition. So I made an executive decision. The birds can stay, but not directly over our front door. The only problem is how to explain that to our new avian friends.
I read online that swallows will sometimes take up residence in a location you select. All you have to do is build a little next box and place the prime real estate in a prime location at the same time you knock down the old nest. My resourceful hubby got to work.
He sawed. He measured. And finally, he glued the nest together with wood glue.
The nest box is now sitting in another, much more desirable, corner of our porch. We left it a bit dusty so the birds would find the barn-i-ness they are looking for. Then I spread some bird seed on the nearby ledges. I wanted to be neighborly, afterall.
I hope the darling swallows aren't too terribly offended that we disassembled the start of their first nest. The spot we've made for them really does have a lot to offer. Now that everything is in position and our For Rent sign has officially been hung, all we can do is wait.
