Tuesday, July 02, 2013

Architects Extraordinaire!

Would you choose to live under a busy highway?  And I mean *right* underneath.  We are seeing more and more Cliff Swallow colonies under our bridges and overpasses here in Louisiana.  These birds fascinate me.  They construct these gourd-like nests with mud and saliva, a mouthful at a time.  You can see the work here in these closeup photographs.  How long must it take to construct one of the nests??  How does the constant rumble and vibration of traffic not affect them as they raise their families?  How do the nests not fall off??  I guess some do..you can see the scars left by some that have fallen.  I have to hope those were abandoned nests and not active ones.  Fascinating birds!

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