Ok, I admit it: I’ve griped every time the swallows return each spring and decided to make our front porch their summer home. I read or heard somewhere that there’s a Chinese proverb that states that having swallows choose your home to make a nest is a sign of good fortune.
Perhaps, but I didn’t feel very fortunate cleaning up bird poo from my porch. This year; however, something happened that changed my mind about these curious little birds.
It was unmistakable: about a month or so ago, little bits of mud and “stuff” stuck to the wall, just under the eves of the porch. I thought, “Ugh, they’re back. Soon, I will have a mountain of bird poo to clean.” And so it begins each spring. Richard and the children scold me for not feeling more compassionate about these little birds who have chosen us as a safe haven for their young. (They do eat flying insects, especially mosquitoes! Anything that eats mosquitoes is worth it’s weight in gold!)
It wore me down, I did feel guilty. After all, what had these cute, little chirpers really done to inconvenience me? Poo is an inconvenience, but I have to admit, each morning when we head out the door to scatter to the four winds of our days; the babies sit: big, yellow mouths; fuzzy little heads and giant eyes — perched along the edge of the nest, trying to figure out what we are, I guess. It is sort of cute……
Barn Swallows on the front porch
In this picture the parents allowed me to sneak (the babies hide down in the nest when the parents show any sign of concern) — you can see the mess they make! All I can think about is the possiblity of some kind of bio-hazard. But, I’ve thought about it: raising a family is messy and busy for awhile, and then they fly away; the very thing you’ve been preparing them for all along.
I was taking this picture and the little bird on the right suddenly took flight. Other babies poked their heads up to see what was going on and I counted SEVEN little ones in there, in various stages of development. It surprised me to see a few more of them fly away to the nearest tree. The parents were obviously upset with me. (I apologized!) It made me think of my own little brood: cooking, cleaning, picking up, dropping off, checking homework — I’m actually happy the messy Barn Swallows are here. I do feel fortunate, I have a great life. It is full and it is eventful every day. Some day, things will slow down around here and I will miss the hustle and bustle something terrible.
I went around the side of the house for the water hose to clean up the bird poo, only with a little more gratitude today than before. Today, my own little birds are still in my nest. Time flies, and soon my little birds will try their wings, too.
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