Barn Swallow

Last week I was admiring the barn swallows that nest under the Audubon Street bridge. I saw at least two dozen sitting on the wire and flying about gathering insects in their acrobatic style. Yesterday and today there were none to be seen. I had read that other birders were reporting large numbers of swallows gathering in the Atchafalaya Basin. I guess they will soon go on their annual migration to their wintering grounds in Central and South America.

The picture above was taken 3/30/08 so I'm guessing that they will be back in March 2009. I wish them good luck and good speed on their journey. In addition, these swallows—not the more famous egrets—have the distinction of having indirectly led to the founding of the conservation movement in the United States: the destruction of Barn Swallows for the millinery trade apparently prompted George Bird Grinnell’s 1886 editorial in Forest and Stream that led to the founding of the first Audubon Society (G. Gladden in Pearson 1923).