This morning I noticed a bunch of small birds flitting about over the neighbors pond across the road.
After a while my curiosity got the better of me, so I walked down to the road to see if I could get a better look. They were still too small, too fast, and too far away to identify.
But I took a few shots with the telephoto lens.
Sure enough, blue bodies, white bellies, slightly forked tail. The tree swallows have arrived.
I hope they all stick around, build nests, and keep eating flies.
Encouraging these little birds to hang around is our form of Eco-friendly fly control. Instead of treating our cattle with a broad-spectrum insecticide that kills beneficial insects as well as flies, we build birdhouses. Tree swallows eat flying insects, and a lot of them. The beneficial insects, like dung beetles are unharmed, and through their natural dung-burying behavior, also help to reduce the number of flies.
