Birds nesting above our cars

A barn swallow built a nest on top of our motion detector light in the carport and now the momma and daddy bird are nesting over a nest of swallow eggs. I have moved the cars out of the carport and Cindy and I are watching the progress.

It took me several days to identify the species of the bird. Fortunately, I have a Georgia bird book and could see enough of the male to determine what kind of birds were nesting there.

Cindy was excited until she found out that it was a barn swallow. Barn swallows are a nuisance. They nest, lay their eggs, the babies hatch and then come back. For the past few weeks, we have been without the motion detector light in the carport because the nest hides the motion sensor.

I spoke with Dad last night. Grandmommie had problems with nesting barn swallows. She would take a broom and sweep the nests out of the cross beams on her front porch. But the birds continued to come back. Dad said that the only solution to the problem was a 20 gauge. I wonder. I wonder if the only real solution to the problem was when they tore down the house.

I am afraid that the real reason we now have birds in the carport is due to the bird feeder in the front. I changed the seeds we use in the feeder and I suppose it is possible that the reason for the coming of the swallows is due to the type of seeds in the feeder.

We are happy to have the chickadees and the cardinals and the woodpeckers and such that congregate around the feeder. But while I like the idea of the nest in the carport, I kind of wish they had found a different place to nest other than the light fixture in the carport. It gets kind of dark at night without the light.

Of course the first critter I did battle with was the squirrels who liked the bird feeder as much as the birds. Seeing those big grey galoots out there trying to reach the bird feeder always got my hackles up. I would take the branches from which they reached for the feeder and whack them down until they had no place from which to launch their attacks on the feeder.

Cindy always thought it was real funny to see me do battle with the squirrels. We finally cut enough branches and bought a new feeder which, in union, don't allow the squirrels easy access to the food. I haven't seen a squirrel up there for quite awhile.

I wouldn't mind feeding the squirrels separately. I just like the birds outside our living room window.