The Barn Swallows Have Returned!

As soon as I walked into Town Square this morning I knew the Barn Swallows had returned to Waterville Valley! I heard their unique sound and soon saw them swooping and soaring over Town Square. While stealing a few minutes of sunshine during lunch today, we even watched them already hard at work catching insects over Town Square (don't worry, the black files aren't out yet!).

Give them a hand when you see them, our barn swallows just completed their migratory journey of about 7,000 miles to spend their summer here in Waterville Valley, where they will eat up to 6,000 insects a day, each! You can't beat that for natural insect control.

Contest Winners!
Of course, since the swallows are back, that means it is time to announce the winners of our Waterville Valley Barn Swallow Return Date Contest!

We accepted April 23 or April 24 as correct guesses for the return date of the swallows (they arrived overnight!). Our winners are:

Bobby Foster
Peter Furgal
Ian Switzer

Thanks to the generosity of our contest sponsors (see list below), five additional people have won prizes as well. We drew names at random from the remaining entries and are please to congratulate:

Angel Olarsch
Charles Sullivan
Lynne Morea
Makayla Foster
Ray Kucharski

Thank you to our sponsors of the Waterville Valley Barn Swallow Return Date Contest:
Dreams and Visions
Toad Hall Toys
The Bookmonger
Olde Waterville Pizza Company
Legends 1291 Sports Bar
Waterville Valley Athletic Center

Enjoy these beautiful birds the next time you are in Town Square and thank them for helping to keep our insect population in check.

The information sheet below is courtesy of NH Audubon's Swallow CORE, a citizen science project. Check out www.nhaudubon.org to get involved!