"Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay!"

  Our neighbor across the Bayou has a rather large, luxurious home.  I marvel at the extensive place each time I head to the pier.  Living for so long in the Little Bayou House, it seems to me like I could fit ten houses the size of ours in their living room.  Probably not, but you get the idea and, don't get me wrong here, I would not trade houses with them for anything since I love my little place!  These people built this huge home, landscaped the place beautifully and maintain it impeccably.  I have to admit, they make great neighbors.  With the Bayou between us, I have yet to actually meet them.  You know, "good fences make great neighbors"!  Although I am sure they are delightful people, the Bayou provides just enough of a "fence" between the two places.  In my humble opinion, they have only made one mistake with their place.  On top of this gigantic house, there sits a massive cupola.  This cupola is at least the size of a small room and has open air arches around the entire thing.  As far as I am aware, no one has ever entered the cupola since the house was built several years ago.  That does not mean it is unoccupied but instead of people being up there, a "kettle" or colony of swallows has squatters' rights on the place. Each year an entire flock of barn swallows build their mud nests and brood their young in the cupola.  While this is similar to my chimney swifts laying claim to my fireplace, I think I would much rather have the swifts than the swallows.  The fireplace does not have to be "cleaned" like an entire room.  Brushing down and vacuuming the fireplace after 5 or 6 swifts does not compare to cleaning the poop that fifty to sixty birds leave in that cupola!  Aside from that mentally crushing idea, I rather like the swallows.  Barn swallows feed exclusively on insects and tend to gravitate to larger ones.  Flying over the Bayou, it is easy to watch them snag whatever hovers there.  The birds are quick and agile so catching insects in flight is not a problem.  

  I sat thinking about the swallows as I watched three juveniles sitting on a pier post.  The little ones flew quite a distance to perch and wait for the parent birds to fetch lunch.  Occasionally, Mama or Papa would fly in, hover just out of reach then dart away with the intended morsel still in the beak.  They were trying to entice the little ones to get off their lazy butts and catch their own food.  Now and again, the adult would actually drop in to feed the littles but more oft than not it was the swoop and evade ploy.  The littles have a lot of learning to do before they will be as deft as their folks but with the good teaching methods, they should be agile fliers in a few weeks.  Then the parents can nest again.  For now, the baby birds are just wasting time as they are "Sittin' on the dock of the bay" to quote a very talented singer/songwriter...Otis Redding.