We are back to my nest pictures. This one is a tree swallow nest. Tree swallows love to include feathers in their nest. I guess they find them, but if you've ever seen them dive bomb a cat, or my husband's head, then it's not hard to imagine them stealing feathers from another bird. Like bluebirds, the tree swallows are great insect eaters and a welcome addition to the garden. They are real flying aces too. On late summer days the tree swallows will dive close to ground level, fly in one of the openings in the stone wall and out another.
When placing bluebird houses, two houses next to each other works best. Bluebirds like some distance between nests, and tree swallows do too. So one nest of bluebirds and one of tree swallows works nicely. For information on blue birds, New York's state bird, click on the
New York Bluebird Society. You can even hear one sing!
