Household Hints and Swallows

Last year we had some storm doors put up at the front and side doors. Long ago there were probably screen doors, but they were taken down whenever and were never replaced. We wanted to do the back french doors too, but because of the non-standard size of the opening (it was a window that was enlarged to accommodate french doors to the backyard when we had the house renovated a decade ago) it would have cost thousands to have storm doors custom made. So. We passed on that for the time being.

I decided that screen doors would be adequate -- especially in the summer, keep the bugs out -- but finding the right size proved a challenge. 30" screen doors are not commonly stocked in the big box stores it would seem. Nor are they easily available anywhere else. I went through something like this with the side door as well. Just lucky, I guess, to find one 30" storm door in stock. I wanted to replace the interior door too, but couldn't find what I wanted -- one with and operable window -- and wound up purchasing an antique door in California and hauling it out to New Mexico on one of my many California to New Mexico junkets before we moved here permanently.

Eventually I found two 30" screen doors in stock at Home Depot in Albuquerque at an astonishingly low price, and I figured I could put them up without too much trouble. Sure enough. Given my inability to do much of anything over the last many months -- besides growing tomatoes -- I was pretty jazzed that I was able to do it. Then I built four cat houses for the ferals that would no longer be able to use the french door step for a shelter. Whoa. Actually, they were pre-cut cat houses, so it wasn't too much of a challenge to put them together, but still. I couldn't have done it at all a few months ago.

And the swallows are back -- again. There was a clutch earlier this year nesting in the eaves of the front porch. That nest has been there for years. There used to be two nests, but one day when we weren't here a bad boy who lived across the street came over and smashed one of them. We told him that if he tried that again on the other nest we'd be sure he went to jail as swallows are a protected species, and interference with their nests is a criminal offense. He never came back, and eventually his household moved away. Yay.

So. This is the second clutch of swallows this year. Four chicks each time. Whether they have the same parental units, I don't know.

Swallows are messy. When they nest under the eaves at businesses and public buildings, there's often an outcry to get rid of them. Bird doo-doo piles up under the nests as the parents dispose of their little ones' excrement.

Requires constant attention and clean up.

But the birds are pleasant to have around just the same, and it's a joy to watch the chicks grow and eventually fly away. They'll be back next year once the weather is warm enough.

Late summer pleasures. Simple things.

On the Labor Day weekend we're headed out to Acoma Pueblo -- I think I mentioned before. I really hesitated about going because I wasn't sure I could handle the exercise. But we'll give it a try. Why not?

And then, if I haven't already, I'll have to describe what happened there when Onate came to call in 1598.

The Swallows Return

We've had swallows nesting under the front porch eaves for almost as long as we've had this old house out in the Wilderness of Central New Mexico.

Except last year, they didn't come back, and the year before that, they abandoned the nest before the chicks were fledged. And the year before that a mean boy who lived in the 'wild house' across the street came over when we weren't here and smashed one of the nests...

This year, however, two pairs of swallows came to investigate the property right around the first of June, and one pair set up housekeeping in the one surviving nest, even adding some skunk hair to the decor.

They're wary of the cats, of course. The cats love to sit on the table by the St. Francis statue near the front door and watch the swallows hungrily. They never know when they might get lucky, and this year, they've been very lucky indeed with the many doves that congregate here and nearby. The other birds, though, stay very well away from the cats and so far we've only found a couple of sparrow babies (probably fell out of the nest) and one yellow-breasted young bird (don't know what kind) among the cats' bird catch.

People say that feral cats devastate bird populations, but I don't think it's true. We've had a feral cat colony here for over a decade, and this is the first year I can recall that between them they've caught more than five or six birds. The birds aren't dumb, for one thing (you should see the grackles tease and mock stalking cats) and for another, there's balance that gets worked out every year. This year the doves have more casualties than I can remember, and not just from the cats. Something is going on in dove-land to control the population, for even with casualties, there seem to be more doves than ever.

This year, because there's been a lot of spring rain, all the birds seem to be flourishing. We have a bird-bath outside our kitchen window, and the variety of birds that come to drink and bathe is astonishing. They keep an eye out for cats, but they love the water, too.

We're happy to have the swallows back. Here's hoping they stick with the job of raising a family. It's been a while.

Meanwhile, we gave away the first lot of Cherokee Purple tomato plants at the Cherokee meeting in Albuquerque. Sixteen plants, raised from seed, the first time I've tried growing tomatoes from seed in New Mexico. They seem to be doing well.

We have dozens and dozens more plants in various stages of growth, most of them slated to be given away to neighbors and friends over the next couple of weeks.

This was a project I decided I needed to do to counter some of the consequences of my condition as it were. There wasn't a lot I could physically do because of pain and other issues, but growing some tomatoes seemed like something I could do, had to do.

So here we are, starting to give them away, and I feel good.

The swallows are back, the tomatoes are doing well, and there are big smiles on the faces of those who receive the plants. Life is good in so many ways. Let's not forget that.

The Return of the Swallows

Swallows on the wire out front

Seems that I forgot to mention: the swallows have returned.

Two pair of swallows have been nesting in the eaves of our front porch for years and years now, though they're probably not the same pairs every year but more likely the descendants of those who hatched them in previous years.

Last summer, however, a nasty boy who was staying with the family across the street came over to our place while we were still in California. He got himself a stick (there are plenty of them lying around) with which he commenced to bash and batter at the swallow nests. He destroyed one altogether, severely damaged the other.

When I got here and saw the destruction, the boy came over to proudly confess his misdeed. I had words with him, pointing out that swallows are a protected species and interfering with their nests is a crime. This gave him the willies, of course. As far as I knew, the birds had finished nesting for the year when he did his damage, so technically, he had not actually broken the law (though I'm not exactly clear what can and can't be done vis a vis swallow nests). But I put the fear into him, and I hope he never interferes with a swallow's nest again.

Meanwhile, May 1 came and went this year, and there were no swallows to be seen. I thought perhaps they weren't coming back, or maybe they came to scout but found so much destruction they decided to roost somewhere else. The places next door on either side of us have been vacant for a while, and though they don't provide quite as sheltered a nesting site as our place does, they'd still make relatively quiet places to raise a bird family.

Well, one evening I went out the front to look at the stars, and what do I see overhead as I'm passing by the swallow nests but a swallow snoozing in the damaged nest and evidence on the ground of repairs started on the destroyed nest. This would have been about May 10th, somewhat late for the birds' return, but still within a reasonable time frame to raise at least one brood before the end of summer.

For some time, I only saw the one swallow day or night. Then, a few days ago, I saw both pair, flitting and chittering about, one pair working diligently to repair the ruined nest, the other pair apparently working on hatching some eggs.

It's taking quite a while to rebuild the destroyed nest but both birds of the pair work diligently in the morning and the evening to assemble a new one.

Swallow working diligently

Must be difficult to find appropriate mud because of the drought. We have a birdbath in front, but we also have a feral cat colony, and the birds are very wary. I've seen lots of different birds use the birdbath, but never the swallows. Instead, they sit on the wire above it, chittering away to one another about the cats down below, and then they fly off to wherever they are getting their mud, soon to return to add to the nest(s). There have been several repairs to the damaged nest as well.

(Oh, regarding feral cats and birds. We have an absolute abundance of many species of birds around here -- drought or no drought. They nest in the trees and the eaves in their multitudes, and the cats are seen to stalk them from time to time. In the more than six months we have been permanent residents, the cats have caught two birds that we know of, both doves. The claims that feral cats will catch dozens of birds each during a season seem to be somewhat... exaggerated to say the least.  The cats love to stalk the birds to be sure, but the birds are not exactly stupid about predators, and they mostly seem to be perfectly capable of eluding their stalkers.)

Some people don't like swallows because they're messy. Yes, the area below the nesting sites can become pretty foul pretty fast when there is a brood in the nest. We just clean it up, but some people get so aggravated by the mess, they want to chase the swallows away. I can understand the feeling, but I have more sympathy for the birds who are just doing what comes naturally to them. It's not really that hard to clean up after them in any case. And the baby birds are cute!

We're glad, very glad the swallows have returned.