Joann Merritt's Essays

Drought Relief Program For Barn Swallows
August, 1998

This spring when the Barn Swallows returned to our neighbor’s house they found that their old mud nest under the eaves had been destroyed by the painters. When this had happened in previous years the swallows had simply rebuilt, but due to the drought there was no mud available - even The Pits were completely dry. This bad news was probably hard for them to swallow.

Much to my delight and our neighbors dismay the swallows began inspecting our porch. I was not delighted, however, when they chose a nesting site near our front door. We covered that area with plastic and Don built a small shelf at the opposite end of the porch hoping to persuade them to build there, thus keeping their mess away from the front door.

They readily accepted the shelf and also the Drought Relief Mud that I made for them in our caliche driveway. Dried grass and long horsehair were incorporated into the hundreds of mud pellets they formed to construct their adobe dwelling. Barn Swallows are supposed to use poultry feathers, usually white, to line their nest but this free-thinking pair used the Emu’s long contoured feathers. Now that’s BIG poultry.

Things were going well and I was quite pleased with our success at influencing these birds. Four eggs were laid, one broke when it rolled out, 3 hatched and then both parents were kept busy catching insects to feed the nestlings. When I checked the nest one morning about 3 weeks later the young were gone and I assumed they had fledged, but a search for them on nearby tree limbs and wires was unsuccessful. The parents were clearly agitated and so was I. Did a predator get them while they were in the nest or did they fall prey to some cat? My son-in-law advised me to accept the fact that more than likely they had been “swallowed”, which only added to my feelings of guilt. Perhaps they knew this was not a safe place to raise their brood and I was to blame for this disaster.

After a week or so the Barn Swallows tried to rebuild by our front door but the plastic wouldn’t support the weight of the nest and it fell to the porch. Don built a bigger platform for them which they rejected, selecting another unsuitable site above our front steps. Nine year old Candice said “Grandma! What difference does it make? There’s bird poop all over this place anyway so let them build where they want to.” Out of the mouths of babes….

Again I made Drought Relief Mud for them and the second nest was built above our front steps without further interference from me. The nest has four alternating layers of caliche and red mud and is lined with numerous white feathers. In order to minimize the ensuing mess when the parents feed the nestlings I placed a litter box on the porch beneath the nest. Where’s there’s a will there’s a way.

This second brood fledged successfully so perhaps the swallows will return next year for us to enjoy, and hopefully the Drought Relief Program can be eliminated.