Our family had been watching this family of barn swallows for a while. They built a nest in one of the barn stalls.
The day I grabbed this photo I was out feeding the horses. I'd already fed one and was walking back to the grain room after feeding the second and I noticed this tiny little bird on the ground, right under the horse! One wrong step and it wouldn't be pretty. I went in and moved the bird into a corner and figured its' parents could sort it out later. Did something else, refreshed the water or something and when I came back to close up everything here was this little bird sitting on the threshold to the stall. So I take some video and photos and then call my son to come out to the barn, and tell him to grab a ladder on the way.
So, I'm holding onto this little bird. It's sitting peacefully on my finger when I look in the stall and there's another one on the ground. Our other horse is wanting to get into this same stall (first horse is a sloppy eater and the other one comes in to clean up). So, I grab the other bird. It climbs up on a finger on my other hand. Just chillin. No care in the world. Pruning themselves, looking at me once in a while (or at least in my general direction). Meanwhile, both parents are flitting around and hovering nearby with food (insects) for feeding time. There's still two more little ones in the nest.
My son brings the ladder and we proceed to put them back in the nest. It was funny. They didn't want to get off my son's hand either. Maybe it was the warmth of our hands?
A couple of video clips I grabbed. Hopefully these are viewable.
Bird Video
Back in nest video.
I'd like to say the story ends well, but sadly it doesn't. When my wife went out in the evening to feed the horses again, the birds were back out of the nest - all of them, now in front of the barn. However, my wife noticed a hawk in one of the trees near the barn. The parents were freaking out. Yep - the hawk wiped out the little ones for dinner. :-(
Since then, the barn swallows have started building another nest (in the other stall). Maybe we'll have better luck with this brood. |
