Looks like my annual nesting birds are back for the summer now. The eastern bluebirds have been back maybe a month. Last week the tree swallows came back but disappeared when it snowed. They're back today claiming their old bird house. I love tree swallows. They're people friendly, playful & EAT MOSQUITOES. :D They eat flying insects almost exclusively. In the pictures you will note their forward facing eyes. Far as I know only birds of prey have  forward facing eyes. They're necessary for catching flying prey & provide pinpointing vision. They have a fierce look about them when looking right at you. When I mow the lawn they follow me for hours grabbing insects for themselves & feeding babies. ......Paul H

I've never seen them up here.....Wished they would show up sometime....Very handsome birds.

Are those pellet-gun pellets in the front of that birdhouse?

Paul

Sure look like it!

I love swallow's. They're much like river otters & dolphins. Everything they do has to be a game. I enjoy seeing them & visiting barn swallows playing catch with a feather. One picks up a feather, takes it up & drops it. The rest try catching itn before it gets back to the ground. I suspect it's a training session for the young birds mostly. ......Yes those are pellets in the front of the bird house. I have a low opinion of starlings, house sparrows & feral cats pestering song birds. Sometimes I resort to the shotgun. .......Paul H

When I was a nipper the starlings used to be the ultimate carriers of the lead from my airsporter... Honestly do not see nearly as many today, in fact I don't remember the last time some visited.

ALL starlings and English sparrows DIE when I find them. Both are "nice" birds WHERE THEY COME FROM! They are noxious pests here, that  harm the local birds and in the case of English sparrows, inflict all sorts of 'not good stuff'. (Major carriers of disease over here as they are particularly susceptible to our fleas. Sadly, the fleas don't kill them.) Starlings are, to my eye anyway, very pretty birds.

Both of these birds are on this continent due to a single MORON from New York. He was an expatriate from Britain that felt that the US "needed" to have all the birds named in Shakespeare's writings. I kid you not. He attempted to get starlings 'started' TWELVE TIMES! It wasn't until the 12th attempt that they 'took'.

There is nothing that "regular folks" do that angers me more than "moving" animals. Governments "introduce" exotic species too, but that's not what angers me MOST with governments. That particular activity is 'up there' though!

Paul