A Face Everyone Should Love

 Look at that face – now that is a face not only a mother should love, but everyone should love. Maybe you will agree with me after learning a bit more about barn swallows.

From talking to some long-time Waterville Valley residents, I learned that our barn swallow colony is likely descended from the colony that lived under the eaves of the historic Waterville Inn. This colony of birds has been making Waterville Valley their summer home for many years and it is for many of the same reasons that you make Waterville Valley your summer home!

Do you look forward to dining out when you come to Waterville Valley for the summer? Any good summer resort has many restaurants to choose from. The choice in Waterville Valley is just as good for the barn swallows as it is for you – our meadows and ponds provide an insect buffet for the barn swallows that can't be beat!

Barn swallows are insectivores eating flies, grasshoppers, beetles, moths and other flying insects. They zig-zag through the air in pursuit of their prey, flying over Corcoran Pond and the surrounding fields. They even drink water while flying, skimming over the surface of the water and scooping water up in their bill. By feeding on insects from dawn to dusk, they improve our summer home by helping to control insect populations.

In addition to restaurants, any good summer home provides a variety of lodging options. Waterville Valley's Town Square provides the shelter barn swallows need to raise their young. Barn swallows nest on human structures against vertical walls with a support structure. They create a cup nest made of mud lined with grass and feathers. The male and female build the nest together. They gather mud, roll it into a pellet and carry it back to the nest site in their bills. If you have ever done a home improvement project, it probably felt like you took 100 trips back and forth to the hardware store. If you have ever felt this way, then you can relate to the barn swallows when building their nests. The barn swallows may take up to 1,000 trips each collecting mud for the nest!

Once the nest is built, the female lays 4-6 eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs for about two weeks. Once this chicks hatch, the parents feed them in the nest for another three weeks. The parents feed their young insects, which are compressed into a pellet they hold in their throat. If you are a parent, you probably feel like you are constantly feeding your kids. Well, if you were a barn swallow, you would feed your kids up to 400 times per day! Now that is a lot of insects!

Barn swallows continue to feed their chicks for a week after they leave the nest. After their young successfully fledge, the parents may have a second brood.

Eventually summer comes to an end. Just like many of our visitors here in Waterville Valley, barn swallows make their journey home at the end of the summer. You may have a long journey ahead of you when you depart the Valley at the end of the summer, and you likely get hungry along the way. Well, barn swallows have a very long journey ahead of them; they head to Mexico, Central America or even South America to spend the winter. They fly by day eating insects they capture in flight. They will stop at night to rest, but only after traveling 600 miles. That is like you going from Waterville Valley to Washington, D.C., which would take you nine hours in a car (imagine having to flap all that way)! When winter ends, we can look forward to the return of the barn swallows once again.

Unfortunately, the barn swallow population is declining here in New Hampshire. Scientists aren't sure what the reason for this is, perhaps one of you future scientists out there will discover the reason! In the mean time, I hope you will take the time to observe these beautiful birds that we are fortunate to have here in Waterville Valley, and remember that like you, barn swallows find all their summer home needs right here in our beautiful Valley.