São Marcos Blog

I just love the swallows!  They are such pretty little birds, announcing spring has come, true acrobats in the sky, happy singers and on top of all that all they keep the mosquito population around your house within limits. So there are a lot of pro´s to let them build a nest around your home.  
This year a pair of barn swallows (hirundo rustica) decided they really liked the top left corner of our entrance door.  After getting rid of the foundations countless times, we decided to give in, locked the door for the next 5 to 6 weeks and used the back door instead.  They loved it!  On and off they flew with mud and straw, building this beautiful home for their youngsters.  As a matter of fact, I think humans got inspired by this to build their own houses in mud, like taipa here in São Marcos da Serra, or rammed earth as they call it in English.
 
It was a joy to watch the whole process of building, laying eggs (4), breeding, feeding and finally flying.  It has been 4 days ago that the 4 young swallows left their nest for the first time, but up till now they return all four of them to spend the night in their nursery. Close together, safe and warm.  I read that it takes about 1 million insects that the parents catch within 500 meters from the nest to bring up 1 nest of swallows. So as far as I am concerned they are welcome again next year, but hopefully in a more convenient spot for us.