The ballet of the swallows

in #nature5 years ago

Midsummer joy on the south coast of Kwa Zulu Natal is sitting on our veranda at dusk looking out over the calm estuary, glass of icy Sauvingnon Blanc in hand.We nod and remember exactly why we bought the house in the first place. Pure delight.

Suddenly they arrive..............fifty to a hundred swallows swoop into our airspace and show off majestically for half an hour.

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 They fly so fast that one can almost see zither lines trailing from their pointed wings. Their movements are balletic as they form a chorus and then suddenly the prima ballerina takes centre spotlight for a solo aerobatic display.

I am reminded of one of my most favourite poems by D H Lawrence .....Bat.

"Look up and you see things flying..........a sudden turning upon itself, a dip to the water."

And then exactly describing what happens in our air space..........

"Swallows?              Dark air-life looping..........A twitch a twitter an elastic shudder in flight...

Never swallows......

Bats!"

Yes! The hyper activity of the swallows dramatically ends as night falls. Suddenly they disappear into the reeds on the far side of the estuary and the bats come to life. I't's as though the music has changed from a ballet symphony to a discordant percussion of cymbals and plucked strings announcing the arrival of the bats. 

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They are usually about 8 in number but they loop through the veranda  pillars making me duck involuntarily and seem to be many more! They lack the grace of the swallows but they clear the air of hundreds of little 'muggies' or flying bugs and especially the mosquitoes. They are so welcome. They eventually roost under the high eave of the roof all day, looking like bits of umbrella untidily folded.

We also know a pair of swallows, another type entirely, who roost from season to season in a carport of my neighbour.

 One day Alan returned home to find the large mud nest made by the parents had collapsed, babies and all, onto soft sacks beneath them. Fortunately  the basin of the nest was still intact and the baby birds were still in place open mouthed, yelling in indignation from the terror of their fall. The frantic parents were swirling about clearly unsure of themselves.

Alan is a practical man and he found an empty flower pot of a suitable size. He emptied it of dead leaves and carefully scooped it under the muddy nest as best he could, trying not to touch the babies who didn't seem to mind being lifted by human hands. He climbed up his ladder and using chicken wire mesh to hold the whole thing together he managed to wire the renovated 'house' onto the rafter where the original nest had been.

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Incredibly, the parents quickly inspected and accepted the alterations and went on wearing themselves to  frazzles, feeding their young. Within a few weeks those babies flew off into the blue yonder as young adults.

It's a privilege to be part of the synchronicity between humans and birds and animals. We have seriously invaded their territory but they have adapted and accepted us. It's almost as though they realise that we can actually benefit them and even enhance their lifestyles and accommodation!

We have named the pair of neighbour swallows Moe and Mandy and they often peer down at us from a lofty perch. At the full peak of their breeding season we rejoice that for a few weeks at least, we will have the pleasure of their company and hope against hope that they survive their incredible migration north, so that they live in perpetual summer, and return again at the end of our winter season.





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