First Flight - Barn Swallows Raising Their Family At Eco Straw House

First Flight

Oh, the joy. The pure joy that this Spring has brought fills me up. I am convalescing from major knee surgery, at my home (Eco Straw House. com) and sanctuary in the country. In early June, a pair of Barn Swallows chose the cozy corner, above my front door to make their nest and rear their young. I did not mind - I put down cardboard to deal with the mess. Many people, I know, blast the nest with a hose or knock it down with a broom handle, not wanting the mess to detract from the cleanliness of their property. I welcomed the pair, seeing it as a true gift to be able to share the whole process as a spectator from my porch.

The nest building began in late May/early June and took about 10 days. It was fascinating watching the cup shaped nest take form, one mouthful of mud at a time. They worked so hard, back and forth, making painfully slow progress. The female would work in the nest, packing and placing the mud, adding other bits of dried grass and an odd feather or two.

Finally the nest was complete and I gather the pair took off to do their courting, for very soon after, the female would be regularily sitting the nest, obviously laying her eggs and then incubating them. This process, I estimate took about 10 days or so, as they had not hatched by the time I left for my surgery however, were hatched by my return 5 days later.

I was overjoyed upon my return to discover 4 baby chicks in the nest. Boy, are they ugly, when first hatched! All mouth and no feathers, big bulbous heads and of course, perpetually hungry. Both parents gathered food on the wing for the insatiable brood, tirelessly, all day long. Day by day the transformation from ugly, scrawny, gangly blob to plump, feathered chicks was amazing. How four of them made it in that little nest is a miracle. There was one that always seemed to squawk the loudest and receive the most food. This must have been the first to hatch and therefore the first to fly.

I estimate it has been 12 - 14 days for them to go from hatching to fledging. This morning, as I sit on the porch with my coffee, both parents are demonstrating the way of flight. Two of the chicks have ventured out onto the ledge and are flapping and preening themselves, as tho ready for the big event. The remaining two in the nest must be glad of the new space they have been afforded to flex their wings. The parents are very much hanging around, chirping to the chicks, encouraging them to 'step out'. They fly in small circles under the porch, showing them the different landing platforms and perches.

All of a sudden the first one takes off! Both parents are close by, encouraging it along. It is awkward in its first flight and clumsy, dipping precariously close to the ground and then finding it's way to getting some height! It has difficulty navigating it's way to a perch but finally does, after landing on one of the parents backs! Whew, that must have been a rush! It was a rush for me watching! Finally it gets back to the nest and there is a lot of squawking to do to the other chicks, relaying the story of first flight!

My old cat comes out and sits on the porch with me, which immediately causes a fluster of concern from the parents. They start dive bombing her and voicing their objection to her being in such close proximity to their nest that she makes a hasty retreat indoors, too old to care about chasing birds anymore. What is interesting is, they are not concerned about my dog, who sits faithfully beside me the whole time I am here. What wonder of nature makes them able to recognize that the dog is not a threat whilst the cat most definitely is a threat? The other interesting fact is that they have not been at all concerned about the human element i.e. me. All the bird books say that they are very aggressive towards humans in close proximity to their nest, but they have tolerated me from the first day. Another gift...

All has gone quiet now - all chicks are safe, back in the nest (well, one, on the ledge, right next to the nest as it is so overcrowded it is no longer able to accommodate all four of them). The parents have been absent for the last 15 minutes or so - maybe gathering their own food and taking a break. They so deserve it!

First Flight was a success! I can hardly wait for the next episode...

If you enjoyed this article, Kandi Wood invites you to visit her website for more information at http://ecostrawhouse.com/. Your feed back and comments are always welcome. Why not sign up for my free mini email course on Tips To Get Started With Building You Eco Friendly Home!

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Flight 93: Who Would You Have Called To Say Goodbye?

As I have been following the overflowing descriptions and commentaries to the national tragedy of 9/11, I have asked myself the question: If I had been on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania, who would I have called to say goodbye? Who are the most important people in my life, and what would I want to tell them before the end came? We have all read about the heroism of the passengers on ill-fated Flight 93 on 9/11. Some of the men on board planned and carried out a counter-attack against the Muslim terrorists (Todd Beamer's phrase "Let's Roll" has become part of our national memory and vocabulary), And we now know that some of the cabin attendants were boiling water which they poured on the terrorists to paralyze them and stop them. All of these plans were heroic, even though the enemy prevailed and they all died.

We also know that many phone calls were made by passengers on Flight 93, final calls to those they loved. Some of these calls included valuable information on what the terrorists were planning and what their Arabic conversations revealed about who they were and where they came from. Some of the conversations were to office-mates, supervisors and bosses, to review projects for the last time. Jeremy Glick, a salesman for an Internet services company, also managed to phone. In a long conversation with his wife, Lyz, Glick said the hijackers had "put on these red headbands. They said they had a bomb...they looked Iranian." The "bomb" was in a red box, he said. The couple told each other how much they loved each other. Glick said, "I don't want to die," and his wife assured him that he would not. She urged him to keep a picture of her and their 11-week-old daughter in his head, to think good thoughts. But by far, the most emotional phone conversations on Flight 93 that day were the ones to spouses and family members. Public relations man Mark Bingham got through to his aunt's home in California. "This is Mark," he began. "I want to let you guys know that I love you, in case I don't see you again." Then, "I'm on United Airlines, Flight 93. It's being hijacked."

We listened in on these and other conversations, as it were, as we read the transcriptions and listened in to their actual words, and our hearts were filled with pain and suffering as we realized that this was the last phone call that they would make: between husbands and wives, parents and their kids, adults and their own parents, lovers and friends. Most said goodbye, and spoke of their love for each other. Some talked about being together one day in Heaven, others shared poignant moments of shared memories. It was hard for me and for you not to cry, as the words and the emotions were so loving, and so raw, as to almost overcome us. They have gone from us, even as someday we will be gone from those we love. Perhaps we should spend more time with our own loved ones before we have to make the "final phone call." When will that time come? No one knows, that is why we must make every moment count.

Find Rabbi Mel Glazer at http://www.yourgriefmatters.com/ and http://www.andgodcreatedhope.com/. After spending over thirty years as a Rabbi and Grief Specialist, Mel Glazer is now a recognized expert in the areas of grief, loss and hope. He is widely published, and his award-winning book "And God Created Hope: Finding Your Way Through Grief With Lessons From Early Biblical Stories," follows in the footsteps of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross in helping grievers journey "from mourning to morning." He has lectured nationally to religious organizations, philanthropic groups and public and private schools to convey to them the importance of accepting the reality of death and loss. Mel lives with his wife Ellen in Colorado Springs, CO, where he is the Rabbi of Temple Shalom and the Board Co-Chair of the Center for Christian-Jewish Dialogue.

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