Second time is a charm...

Since we've lived here, we've had swallows come around, and look like they were going to nest but it never happened.  This year they made a nest in our front entry.  It's been a real treat watching their amazing nest building from scratch and now watching the babies grow.

Four little ugly birds hatched out.  Only a mother bird could love these things, all fuzzy head and beak.


A week later they are growing, and I think there is no way they can all continue to fit in the nest.

Then one evening, I see the adults all flying towards our living room window, and then there are three and four adults.  When I looked out to see what was going on, I discovered a snake atop our dried yucca that are in a pot by the door, and it is straining, trying to reach the nest.  It can't reach, but then it tries to climb up the stucco wall.  Well, I wouldn't have that.  By the time I went to get a long handled tool to convince the snake to leave, it had gone down into the deep pot that the yuccas are in.  The adult swallows were vigilant and upset for a long time.  

Yesterday evening we noticed there were only three babies in the nest.  We looked all around and found no evidence of the fourth one at all.  We suspect it fell out and then something ate it. 


This evening the bull snake was back.  We didn't want to just kill the snake, but also don't want it upsetting our swallow family.  Dale flung it out in the field, accidentally flinging it against the house first which didn't seem to bother it any.  I've also removed all the yuccas from the pot so that he can't hang out there pestering the poor swallows.