My Families of Barn Swallows

Not sure if I even have a favorite bird, but if I did the Barn Swallow would be right up there. Why, I wonder? Maybe because so many people despise (on the outside, anyway) the Barn Swallow. Again, why? Because the birds love to build their nests exactly where people don't want them, like under the eaves of buildings, especially houses. My house presently hosts at least six nesting pairs. Yes, they do make messes below their nests. They can't help that. But they are clean birds: I have seen the adult reach into the nest, pluck out a piece of poop, and, yes, you guessed it, drop it from right there. They don't fly out over the lawn, or the street to drop it but right there, to collect with the rest of the mess.
I don't mind. The little birds entertain me. Recently (I'm finally drywalling the 2-story section of my house [A work in progress for 12 years now]) and a pair began nesting under the overhang of my upstairs Bay window, about two feet from the glass and about another three feet from where I've been working...and constantly passing by. The birds have become accustomed to my presence, at least one has, I'm thinking the female because no matter how much the male bird will help in the nesting process, the main event falls to the female. So, I feel, she has chosen to trust me...but she does keep her eye on me.
The nest itself was already there. I don't know if it's last years or maybe they built it when I wasn't working there. What I first saw was what I figured was final preparation for laying the eggs. She lands on the nest with a feather, places it, then sits on the nest, obviously to see if that particular feather (or whatever) is going to suffice, then she leaves again. This activity continues for two days. Occasionally the male will drop by too and they are both there, until he notices me watching and leaves. Not explosively, but leaves.
I've been turning this hub over in my mind for a few days, how exactly to go with it. Today a tiny bill made an appearance just over the edge of the nest, so I guess the babies have arrived. It's almost unbelievable how fast they can grow. But parent Barn Swallows are great parents. They are constantly in the air. I think they love flying, just for the pure thrill of it. I can't believe their antics in the air are purely for eating bugs and surviving.
My birds sometimes get aggressive, but only when the babies are trying out their wings for the first time. I don't blame them. I'd get aggressive to if a child of mine (or any child) was trying out its wings for the first time and danger of any kind approached. In this case--I guess--the perceived danger is me.
My love of Barn Swallows goes clear back to my being raised on a farm. We always had a nest or two inside the barn and, of course, that mess right below it. Yes, in my very early days I tore down a few nests, even some with helpless babies inside. My father, bless his departed sole, finally told me that the nests were OK. Another time I was shooting the occasional songbird with my BB-gun. Again my father intervened. From that time on my interest in nature took a major turn.
So back to the Barn Swallows and why I love them, or at least really "like" them. It could be because I often take a liking to things other people don't like. I like cottonwood trees and Boxelders too, which many people do not like. Cottonwoods get too big and have cotton and huge leaves to clean up in the fall. Boxelders plainly are not really a pretty tree. I dare you to catch a person actually planting either of those trees in their suburban yard. (Although there is a hybrid cottonless cottonwood now that people do plant in their yards, only to find a few years later that they get too big too.)
People, too, I tend to like when mostly nobody else does. Back in gradeschool there was this boy that the other kids not only didn't like but were afraid of him, so, I befriended him. Early on he bought through the mail a set of encyclopedias that covered only the many arts of sex, so he was able to fill me in on the facts of life. We became best friends until he was killed in an aerial crop-spraying accident. In highschool I met another very unpopular boy so I befriended him too. I will never forget that day when the whole highschool (about 35 kids) were all in the gymnasium and it was decided by the scool bullies that this friend of mine should get his clothes torn off. All of them. I can still picture him walking naked. Even today, fifty years later, I can feel the same horror that I felt for my friend that I felt then.
I'll try to end this hub on a happier note. Three power line poles come from the highway to my house. Twice in the twelve years I've been here those lines have been covered with swallows, but probably not all Barn Swallows. I don't know what about two thousand tiny birds weigh, but when they all leave the lines to swoop and hunt over the adjacent meadow even the poles shake. I'd like to believe the swallows I've welcomed to live on my house have spread the word to their neighbors that here is a place to safely stage for their journey south.

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