Uninvited guests can ...

bring a sense of trepidation and reluctance, because they are kind of invading your privacy, but once they have settled in, those feelings can be replaced by a sense of peace and happiness. I came to find that out JUST yesterday.

Last summer, cliff swallows tried to nest in my eaves, right by my front door. They also tried to nest in the eaves of my neighbour's carport, which faced my front door. We were constantly being dive bombed by these tiny creatures that swooped all around us, in mid-June. I am ashamed to say that I had a friend cut the nest building short by destroying the mud plastered to my siding, with my garden hose. What was I afraid of?  My neighbour did the same thing, and that was the end of it, for last year.

Fast forward a year later. My neighbour is at his camp for the weekend and I once again witness a flurry of activity between our houses. I look up, and lo and behold, the swallows have returned to HIS place, to nest again.  I see no sign of activity around my eaves, and am totally relieved, as I DO NOT want a repeat of last year's destruction.

I decide to advise my neighbour of his new guests however, because he wouldn't have noticed the comings and goings of these little birds, since he needn't go to the outside of his carport unless he is mowing the lawn. I also figured it was best he knew before the eggs were laid, so as NOT to kill baby birds.  

Of course, he came out immediately with his garden hose and removed the beginnings of a nest.  Wouldn't you know it? Less than twenty four hours later, these poor swallows are back, trying to rebuild their nest AGAIN. By now I am getting upset.  I 
figure maybe if I don't say anything this time, and he
does not catch on, they will have time to hatch their babies and fly away?  Not really plausible thinking on my part.  Well, my neighbour tells him and out he comes with the hose AND ladder, again. There is no persuading him to leave the half built nest alone.  

When I went to bed that night (after a visit from my "hermanita"  who was totally devastated at the thought that baby swallows might have been murdered), I wasn't able to sleep. I thought, OMG, these swallows can't come back a THIRD time, it's 
going to drive me to drink. (Well... drink more!).  I went on Goggle, found a way to prevent swallows from nesting in your eaves, took a screen shot of the info, and texted it to my neighbour the next morning.  I step out and there he IS, putting up some fine wire netting above his eave vent, to STOP the swallows from rebuilding a THIRD time.  I am so relieved. Those cliff swallows will not return, because they can't access that area any more, thank goodness.


I console my hermanita with that fact, as we head out for a two day back country, 45 km hike during a record breaking heatwave of 41 degrees, (with the humidity), in the Chaleur area... aptly named for once.

When I returned yesterday, I was busy doing laundry, checking my flowers, putting away hiking gear, and catching up on my messages, when I heard the 
twittering of swallows and saw three or four of them swooping and flittering directly above me, as I unpacked Jiminy.

In my two day absence, the swallows HAVE indeed returned, but this time, have built a complete nest in MY eaves. Are they tenacious and stubborn, or what?   The pretty mother is sitting proudly up there, peering down at me.  An overwhelming sense of relief floods over me.  I am SO,SO happy that they have come back. 

I would have wondered all summer, every time I saw
swallows, what happened to those beautiful birds trying to build a colony this year.   

Again, I am blessed. Blessed to be able to right a wrong, and blessed to enable life.  We have deprived swallows of their natural nesting grounds, because we have over developed our shoreline with cottages, 
and homes, and fortified the cliffs, high and low, with breakwaters of every type. They have no where to go to nest, which explains why Canada has lost 98% of its swallow population in some areas. Cliff swallows are a protected species under the Migratory Birds Convention Act. 

It may only be a small start on my part, but we have to start somewhere, to preserve our wildlife. I will have a nesting box installed in the eave of my garden shed, this fall, and hopefully, when the cliff swallows return NEXT year, they will realize they have a NEW, safer and more secure home in which to start their new family.

For the next month though, I will delight in their beauty and activity around me, delight in the birth of their babies, and delight in the knowledge that I have been given a second chance. 

UPDATE: The next day: My delight has turned to despair. OMG... I woke up to a crumbled nest scattered all over my walkway this morning. I am DEVASTATED. Is it the heat that caused the nest to fall down? What makes this even WORSE is that those poor swallows are now trying to rebuild OVER my neighbour’s wire mesh, for a THIRD time!!!! They are tenacious. Nature will take its course I guess, but I am still heartbroken.