Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The Swallows' Nest Mandala






















The five Tree Swallow nestlings fledged on June 14. A House Sparrow was harassing the remaining Tree Swallow father and mother in an increasingly disturbing manner. I took the nesting box down, thinking that the House Sparrow wanted the nesting box and was going to continue to intimidate the Tree Swallows. House Sparrows are known to kill nestlings, and so I was concerned about the fledglings. The House Sparrow hung around for awhile and then was gone. This morning I removed the nest from the nesting box so that I could clean the box and noticed the beautiful spiral pattern on the bottom of nest.

The Tree Swallow father and mother have been returning to sit on the hummingbird feeder ever since I took the nesting box down.

5 comments:

Loren said...

Glad to hear someone has had luck getting tree swallows to nest. My bird house has sat empty all sping. Hopefully a tree swallow will nest in it next year.

That aluminum bowl makes the perfect frame for that nest!

YumYum said...

Dear am and Oboe-san, such exquisite beauty in the "found objects" and "ordinary things"...this is how we have learned photography from the poignant images captured so elegantly upon the pages of this precious blog.
thank you from the UrbanArtFarm
We also loved "Always" but couldn't figure out how to post a comment that day. Keep keeping on!

robin andrea said...

I miss the tree swallows that nested in our yard in Port Townsend. They were quite a wonderful sight every spring. We had a pair of nesting violet green swallows as well.

The nest does make a beautiful mandala.

am said...

Loren -- A word of caution, though. Sometimes it is better if they don't nest in nesting boxes because that makes them acutely vulnerable to House Sparrows. I was horrified to discover, through interent searching, the havoc that House Sparrows can bring to Swallows and their nestlings in nesting boxes.

YumYum -- I am so happy when you are able to post comments. You inspired me!

robin andrea -- I wonder if there are swallows in the meadows near where you and roger live. I hope so. They bring much joy!

Rev. Lynn said...

Sweet