One single swallow was in the barn yesterday – I looked up at it and it flew with great swooping fanfare out of the barn and into the distance. It did not return…
A poetic goodbye.
Barn is so silent now. 
1 Like
We had so many nests and so many babies this year, and lost only a couple. It was so wonderful to have them swooping and chattering, and chastising me.
Last night the last of the babies fledged, and sat, surveying their new world on the fence gate.
This morning they are gone.
There are still a lot in the air around the barn, probably from nests in my run in sheds, but all the barn friends have left.
It is so quiet without them.
1 Like
Mine are all gone now too 
Mine left two weeks ago. Northern Virginia. Pretty much on schedule.
I had 3 nests I could see in the barn.
Probably more in the indoor.
Loved watching the babies’ Flight School, but it means they are all gone now,
Still chattering & swooping, just not inside, for my amusement.
NW Indiana here.
one nest still has some in it,but the other 2 are empty.
Every one of them gone here now.
Same here, the last family left on Friday. I miss them, the barn seems so empty
ours are all gone now.and as we are selling the farm,i won’t see them the same way next year.
My barn swallows have left for the winter. They left Sepr. 2, gone when we went to feed horse that morning. I was surprised, since 2 nests had just got their babies flying the week before. We had a pretty good baby success rate this year, with a fair amount of birds (25?) flying daily before they left. Up to about 6 nests now. They helped noticeably keeping the biting bugs reduced. Hoping to hear their cheerful voices come spring. We are mid-Michigan near Lansing.
The nests I can see easily are all empty.
But swallows - must include the new babies - still swooping about the barn, 
I am in NW IN and just recently it has started to feel Fallish here.
Am I the only one celebrating that they’ve left? We have a tiny 8 stall barn and we had at least 50 nests. Everything you touch is covered with poo- I can’t even bring a horse in without having to de-poo their backs. And loud, OMG, they never shut up and all the diving at your head- ugh. I don’t discourage their coming but I am so happy when they depart after the second set of babies.
swallows are, oddly, still hanging around but i heard cranes this morning
So, amazingly, some remain! I don’t think I’ve ever seen them this late. They are gone all day but there they are at night check. It really seems that all of the adults departed with the masses awhile ago and yet some fledglings have lingered. I assume they are building up for the journey and needing their feathers to fill out?
I love their chatter! I took some recordings on my phone so that I’d have something fun to listen to when it’s cold and nasty out in January
4 Likes
Mine are all gone. The last pair left a few days after the babies fledged.
I love it too. I love it when I am in the feed room and they don’t know I am there, and I can hear them chattering happily amongst themselves.
Cliff Swallows & Barn Swallows appear to have moved on. I last saw them Monday. It was a very successful year for them, I counted 50 on the arena roof at one point!
Not as successful for the Killdeer for whatever reason, I hardly saw any young. Possibly due to all the rain we had this spring/summer in Southern Ontario.
I saw a kettle of 10 TUVU the other day. I’ve also been seeing less and less terns. Specifically Common Tern. Though I have seen a bunch of Caspian & we had a Black Tern hanging around one of our hotspots. Orioles left a week ago… Now bring on the WARBLER migration.
Just spotted the first redwing blackbird of the season!
Promising! :)
1 Like
Only thing here besides dirty sparrows and rats with wings are Prairie Horned Larks
1 Like
