It was 15 minutes before I had to leave to drive the afternoon school bus route, and my phone rang. It was my wife’s good friend and a fellow school bus driver, Lynn, with an urgent tone to her voice.
“Joe! One of these birds has its beak stuck to the house. Can you come and get it loose?”
Of course, “Yes! I’ll be right over to see what I can do,” was my reply.
My Wife, Ginger, and I were ready to go out the door, so we were there in less than a minute, with her house only a quarter mile down the road. When I got out, Bill greeted me. I started to ask where the bird was, but before I could finish my sentence, I saw what appeared to be the feathers of a lifeless bird hanging next to a hanging flower pot under the soffit.
Stuck under the soffit
I went around to see the bird and saw that it was a Barn Swallow that was still alive. It began to struggle to free itself unsuccessfully. A spot of blood on the white house paint told me that it was injured.
It looked as though it had impaled itself on a nail that was exposed under the soffit.
I carefully wrapped my hand around it to stop the struggle and keep it from hurting itself further. I used my other hand to feel its neck and head to find that it had crashed into a cup hook that didn’t have anything hanging from it this year. The hook hidden underneath the feathers was around the bird’s neck, holding it tightly in the corner.
With this knowledge, I gently lifted the bird’s neck from the hook. It was one tough little bird and began another struggle to get out of my hand. It felt strong, so I decided to simply release it and see if it was injured too badly to fly. It flew off immediately and joined the other swallows.
I was so glad that I was able to free it and thanks to Lynn’s quick thinking I was able to get to it in time to save it.
I removed the cup hook and made sure that there were no others. We jumped in the car and made it to school on time. I’m so glad, as that wasn’t an option.
It’s that time of year again
I hadn’t even realized that it was that time of year again for the swallows to return to build their nests. Lynn has the biggest heart when it comes to wildlife. Last year, the swallows built nests on her porch ledges, and she had to clean, repair, and repaint parts of the porch. This year, she is using plastic film to cover the porch posts. I returned to photograph the swallows as I did last year and share the images with you.
The Barn Swallows fly so fast and seemingly erratic that it is difficult to see their beauty and graceful poise. If you watch one that is perched, its head twitches from one position to another in an instant to observe insects nearby. I imagine that to them, we move as slowly as a sloth does to us. They are more difficult to photograph than dragonflies! I know from experience.
I hope my images will give you a view of the Barn Swallows’ beauty and gracefulness.
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Joe Berry is a Certified Georgia Master Naturalist and nature photographer. His work has been featured by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Elachee Nature Science Center in Oakwood, and the Leon & Rachel Gathany Museum of Natural History at Toccoa Falls College. To enjoy more of Joe’s spellbinding photography and storytelling, visit Outdoor Living in the Features section of NowHabersham.com.
