I started this blog three years ago, with photos of tree swallows nesting in an old martin house:
https://eyesonthewild.blog/2017/07/23/first-blog-post/
But tree swallows are really supposed to nest in dead trees, hence the name. This summer, on June 21, they were nesting by my big beaver pond, something I hadn’t yet noticed, but luckily Mary Jewett’s sharp eyes spotted it. See the holes in this dead tree?
The parents come and go with food, wedging themselves into the smallish holes:
And squeezing out again once the food has been delivered:
Sometimes a nestling sticks their head out, so the adult takes the opportunity to ram a large dragonfly right down her offsprings’s throat.
The youngster seems a little uncertain how to handle this rather large dragonfly :
But he gets a grip, and the mother checks before leaving:
And the nestling bravely gets it down:
No messing about pretending to be an airplane for 5 minutes when feeding your toddlers: just force it down their gullets.
Maybe human parents should pretend to be swallows, not airplanes?
Much of the feeding is done in a brief encounter while the adult remains more or less on the wing. The chick gets ready:
and the food is transferred:
Occasionally they take a well-earned rest:
Great photos, Moira. The birds look so streamlined. At a wildlife area, near here, there are nesting boxes on poles for the Bluebirds, often, the Tree swallows get there, first.
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Spectacular photos!!! And such beauty to be able to see.
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Love the juxtaposition with the old blog. >
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