This is Cecil, just one of the many barn swallows we have here at Morning Bray Farm each spring and summer. He’s sitting on a wind chime hanging on our back patio. The string heading off to the right of the wind chime is a horse or donkey hair trailing from Cecil’s nest.
To simplify matters, we call all of our barn swallows Cecil. When the babies come, we’ll be calling them Sons of Cecil, just like we do every other year.
Some interesting facts about barn swallows from whatbird.com:
- The killing of barn swallows for their feathers was one of the issues that led to the founding of the Audubon Society and the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
- Females prefer to mate with males that have the longest and most symmetrical tails and a dark red chest color.
- When building the mud nest, both male and female make up to 1000 trips collecting mud.
- A group of barn swallows are known collectively as a “kettle” of swallows.
Morning Bray Farm 