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Show PL Grove to Unseat San Juan Capistrano? ,j wistrano? They re-j re-j Jto Pleasant Grove, iTpast few We have noticed a Ling number of ws around our e which is near the Jrfock Canal. Every- in the area has noticed them, returning spring and leaving a the fall- The birds are beauti-V beauti-V and a pleasant I '.jge from the robins, . 0M3, chickadees other birds that frequent the neighbor- have an intense desire to protect their young. One day a tiny hummingbird began poking his long beak around the beams on the patio. He did not venture too near the swallow's nest but he was in the vicinity. Soon, several swallows, swal-lows, not only the parents of the baby birds, were swooping through the patio screeching at the bewildered hummingbird humming-bird who quickly flew off to safer territory. One swallow then perched itself upon our patio light and acted as sentinel, watch bird if you wish, while the parents went off for food for their hungry offspring. That sentinel sat there, his ever darting eyes keeping watch over those babies. Since the swallows all look exactly alike, of course, we could not be sure which were the parents because several birds would attend to the babies. Whether they were old maid and batchelor birds, I don't know. Or maybe all the swallows help each other out even if they have nests of their own. Swallows built a nest above the front porch light at one neighbors house last summer. They put up with the mess under the nest and the birds trying to keep visitors away so that the little birds could survive. THIS BEAUTIFUL swallow was born and raised right here in Pleasant Grove. San Juan Capistrano, take a back seat, please. they could spend a few moments balancing on the edge of the nest and stretching their wings. About this time we were able to count four different baby birds in the nest. i One day, one of us commented that the birds would be flying soon. It was not 24 hours later before the little mud nest on the patio was empty. Like all good children, they return to the nest at dark, however, but are gone by the time we rise in the morning. We learned some things about them in addition to all this. Like almost all animals they iiood. The only baa v king is, we don't hear N meadowlark as Duch as we used to before the swallows became so numerous. Their blue wings, tuck and head are I accented by their amber colored breast. He forked tails also lend distinction to the birds. The swallows have a shrill call and I honestly believe they communicate very well. A year ago the swallows built a nest on the beams of our patio ' tot for some reason i hey abandoned it before they used it. This year they built another nest, cemented with mud to the side of a 2 x 8 beam on the patio. It is only attached on the side. There is nothing underneath it , to hold it in place. The j wallows built it of mud ' and grasses gathered ; from thousands of trips back and forth from the canal bank. We watched them I build the nest from the , privacy of our bath-roomwiridow. bath-roomwiridow. Then one Jay we knew there were ; eggs in the nest because the swallows were j taking turns sitting on the nest. It was a long time ! before we saw the tiny ; beaks protruding above the nest to await food ' brought by their ; parents. In fact , we weren't even sure until few days ago, exactly how many little birds there were in the nest. I If we would venture out onto the patio and for more than a few ! Wnds the parents turned into dive bom-tars bom-tars and screechily j "fged us on our way. This precluded us 'tng the patio for anything this summer I "cept to keep the 0y pet fed and ) "atered. A large spot I o( bird droppings accumulated ac-cumulated day by day ; mediately under the j nest. From this, I asume the swallows are SMd housekeepers. As the baby birds ! me larger, we ! W01jdered how they all stay in the "est. especially when "e Parents came home 10 roost at night. We Were afraid one would 8 pushed out. '"ally the birds ere big enough that We have not been able to enjoy the patio. But that is ok. Watching the antics of the birds and the growth of the little ones was worth it. In addition',- our birds staged with Ms inspite of having a nice little terrier mix pooch prancing around beneath be-neath the nest. However, she ignored the birds and they seemed to ignore her. We people were the only ones chased away by the parents. The bathroom window win-dow has not been peered out of so much in all the years we've lived there, as it has this summer so that we could silently, unobserved unobser-ved watch those swallows. It won't be long til they leave and go to where ever swallows go in the winter. But in the spring, like at Capistrano, Cap-istrano, we hope they return. We'd like to see another nest. Even if we must give up the patio to the birds. You could say "the patio is for the birds." |