We are fortunate enough to have a large bank barn that has been a barn swallow nesting ground for years. Although we use the top floor and seal it off, we leave a gate open for the swallows in the ground level every year. It’s a joy to see 50+ of them on the telephone line in late summer.

This year our flock is significantly smaller, and two of them didn’t make it. Hopefully just a one-year anomaly, but deep down I doubt it.