walking out to the barn this afternoon,i counted 35 of the little darlings sitting on one of the wires!
For the first time in 34 years I do not have any swallows in my barn. I don’t know why. I have five barn cats but I have always had cats. A couple of swallows flew through the barn early on but none stayed. I am rather sad.
Mine came late, just as I was about to despair. However, they laid their eggs
in their nest behind a board. Finally, FIVE babies, and they all fledged, so we have seven flying around. Usually one or two get shoved out of the nest
by the bigger ones. So satisfying.
We have 4 nests, had babies fledge, but only saw the 3 inside the barn. They are CUTE, small versions of their parents and already skilled fliers. I am sure the outside nests had success with babies, just never saw them or am getting them mixed with the 3 from inside the barn.
The inside nest has Mama sitting on it again, so going for a second batch. Probably true on the other nests too. Hope they get hatched and fledged before we get more hay to fill the barn up to the rafters, because then the cats can reach the nest. They are safe for the moment, but another load of hay is going to fill up the space. Outside nests are out of cat reach, so those babies should be safe.
Morning brings the “flying circus” to enjoy as they swirl around the rafters and aisle, then head out into the fields. Amazing how they never run into each other in such tight quarters! I am seeing at least 10 birds with them darting in and out, so it could be more.
Sure glad to see them working so hard eating bugs, since the fly and mosquito population is quite healthy this summer! Hoping to add more birds with the second set of eggs hatching.
I did see a Monarch butterfly today! Hoping he is the first of more to come this season. They have been pretty scarce this year in all places.
We have at least 20 nests and they are on their second set of babies. We have over 100 barn swallows. The barn cat is thoroughly cowed and is spending the summer under the Japanese willow.
We had moth school the other morning. Parent would drop a moth, it would flutter near the ground while the babies made passes. I watched them make 10 passes (with misses) before someone finally got it.
One nest has five babies in it that are just completely overflowing it. Those parents never stop - really big, hungry babies.
We’ve had a pretty successful crop of swallows. Many nests, and I believe we only lost a few. On the second set for many of our nests. Here is a picture of just a few of our birds.
We also have our second set of babies! They’re just about ready to leave.
They’re leeeeaving!! 
The crowd has definitely thinned. I have one group about to fledge but it seems many have left already!
Ours, too! I can’t imagine those new babies will make it 2000 miles ;(
[QUOTE=dotneko;8283855]
Ours, too! I can’t imagine those new babies will make it 2000 miles ;([/QUOTE]
I know!! I hope they hang around a bit longer, or take their time travelling…
Last year there were swarms of swallows in the fields for a couple of days and then, like a switch, on 8/25, everyone was gone. I’d never seen that before. This year it seems like they have gone more gradually.
My babies, four of them, left the nest about a week ago, and all of the swallows have left the area.
Our second batch left about 3 weeks ago. Had three in first batch and three in the
second although I saw five eggs. They had to build a new nest this year as we decided it was time for a cleaner one (the old one was 8 years old) so got a bit of a
late start. They also made it pretty deep for a first year nest so we couldn’t see the babies until they were about ready to fly. No little bald heads with tufts and big mouths this year. Don’t think this mom and dad were the ones who had been coming as they were very skittish when we were out.
Last year, we had three batches of babies…was a first for us.
We had 12 nests with the first batch that arrived in April. At least 4 babies per nest. Then a second round of 6 pairs come in in late June or so. I guess they had farther to fly or took their time. The last of those fledglings left the barn last week. But there are still plenty hanging around.
I don’t think barn cats make much of a difference. Up until recently we had as many as 8 barn cats. Down to just one now. Bad Bob was always the best birder in the group. Most of the other ones had some age on them. Our swallow population has always been pretty healthy.
Mine all left around Aug 15th (N Ga).
This afternoon there was one lone fledgling on the aisle. I put him back, hopefully his parents will give him some more time!
The majority have definitely left but there was a good bunch (15?) feeding this evening. Wow, summer is winding down and that just sucks!
we still have a bunch in puget sound…i hate to think of them having to migrate through the SMOKE!!!
and feel even worse for the itty bitty rufous hummingbird…
Ours are here in southern WI. The other night we must have had 50 of them swirling and swarming around us on a trail ride through the fields. I’ve never seen them out and about like that - divebombing around and in the barns, but not way out in the fields while we were riding. I hope they’re not getting ready to leave already…
Southern Ontario here.
I had 12-13 nests and all but one had 2 sets of little ones. Most have left the barn but are still around. I think there are maybe 3 nests with some young. A couple of days ago there must have been 75-80 swallows sitting on the hydro wire just outside the barn doors. They were having a great time chattering away. Pretty soon they’ll be heading south.
[QUOTE=betsyk;8284278]
Ours are here in southern WI. The other night we must have had 50 of them swirling and swarming around us on a trail ride through the fields. I’ve never seen them out and about like that - divebombing around and in the barns, but not way out in the fields while we were riding. I hope they’re not getting ready to leave already…[/QUOTE]
That’s exactly what I saw last year, but it had to be 100s! They gathered for a few days and then left. If they did it this year, I missed it. We still have some, but not tons. I saw 2 families roosting at night check, they were out and about all day 
I hate to see them go!
i think ours are gone.saw 35-40 sitting on the wires last week.now the nests are empty.sigh…
