These little barn swallows have taken over my woodshed...AGAIN. Oh well...live and let live.

For many years, I've had a running skirmish every spring with a pair of barn swallows that keep insisting that they be allowed to use my combination wood shed/garage to raise their young. Some years, I have been home frequently enough to keep the garage door down, and discourage them thusly, as there is no other quick way for them to make their ingress and egress. Other years, such as this one, I have lost.

(photo courtesy of The Audubon Society)

This pair is quite insistent, and though I doubt it, they seem to think their claim to nesting here predates my ownership. I've been here 22 years, so I think it would have to have been their grandparents or great-grandparents who preceded me, but there is no nearby court of aviary jurisdiction to which we can bring our dispute. I don't mind them too much, really, but the rub is that they poop...A LOT... In years where they succeed in taking over, there is absolutely no parking the car in the garage until late fall, because they make the roof and hood such a white, gooey mess. I have no choice but to keep my lawn tractor, lawnmower, rototiller, snowblowers and other items there anyway, and the cleanup is an ongoing process.

Here is the opening that they abuse:

Here are my proud parents:

Here is (I think) the male perched on my chimney sweeper:

And here is their pride and joy...a firmly-built, elements-avoiding nest, made from mud and straw:

There are hatchings already out and about inside the nest, but even with my stepladder I could not get up high enough for a better look, and I really am a softy (truth be known) and didn't want to use my extension ladder to actually get up and peer inside. It was clear, just from having me perched at the top of a 6-foot stepladder, that I had increased their angst level exponentially. If I had actually peered into the nest, I would have been swarmed by angry parents, for sure!

The babies are too small to look like this quite yet, but here is how they will appear in a month or so:

(photo: courtesy of metroparks.net)

Now, THAT photo shows clearly whose going to be in charge out there, in what WAS my woodshed, in the very near future.

Have a great day everyone...and "may the bird of paradise NOT fly up your nose!"