Cliff swallows nesting in the eaves of a house in the neighborhood — Colorado Springs, CO.

Cliff swallows in action — Colorado Springs, CO.

Starting a second row of nests! — Colorado Springs, CO.

This side of the house is further from the mud source ... just a few nests here so far — COS, CO.

House finch serenading us from our roof — Colorado Springs, CO.

Mourning dove strolling in the backyard — Colorado Springs, CO.

Goldfinch and a female house finch (I think) at the neighbor's feeder — Colorado Springs, CO.

Brewer's Blackbird — Colorado Springs, CO.

Black-billed magpie ... doesn't seem too concerned that he's a bit big for the feeder! — COS, CO.

Invasion of the Swallows

6. juni 2020, Forenede Stater ⋅ 🌧 72 °F

After a short camping getaway to USAFA's Peregrine Pines famcamp last week (footprints posted to the FP trip at this link: https://findpenguins.com/8pccjefaitoru/trip/t2t…), we're back to our routine at home ... until next week when we will take off for another short jaunt in the Cruiser.

Spring vaulted into summer this week with unseasonable daytime temps of 90F+ around Colorado Springs. In fact, yesterday we broke the all-time high temp record with 94F. Friends who live in states with traditionally higher temps are probably shrugging their shoulders at these numbers ;-) Luckily for us, between the lack of humidity and the near-constant breeze, the high temps were bearable. That said, we're happy to see the forecast calling for temps in the 70-80F range again next week.

It's lovely to see the landscape greening up ... helped along by some beneficial afternoon and evening rains we've gotten on and off these past few weeks. The worst of the storms stay in the mountains or on the plains way off to the east of us. This is our first spring/summer in the new house, so all of the changes are new and delightful to us.

The slight draught in the area seems to have delayed the wildflowers ... which, in turn, has made the annual Miller moth migration from the plains to the mountains the worst it has been in a couple of years. We had a few weeks where opening doors and windows meant letting in a number of moths no matter how quick we were. Mui became quite adept at using the vacuum to get rid of the moths that insisted on remaining indoors with us instead of outside where they belong.

The moths are now history. In their stead, we have an abundance of birds coming through the area. As the wetlands in the neighborhood get better established, we're seeing more and more birds arriving ... and staying for a while. The mountain bluebirds that were the first to arrive have disappeared. House finches, goldfinches, blackbirds — both red-winged and Brewer's — and mourning doves and black-billed magpies are the most readily identifiable ones around here at present.

The numbers of these birds, however, are no match for the cliff swallows that have invaded the neighborhood. They are flitting about everywhere, busily building nests. There are two houses at the end of the walking path that are absolutely inundated. The eaves on all sides are filled with nests the swallows build from the mud they collect from the wetlands across from these two houses.

I love birds ... but I sure am glad we have no readily available sources of mud anywhere near our house, so we have escaped the invasion intact. We're more than happy to wander down the path to enjoy our swallow-watching.

Stay safe ... stay healthy.Læs mere

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