The Wildlife Center only admits about a dozen barn swallows each year, but at least once a week throughout this summer someone tells me a story about their clan of barn swallows, e-mails photos of their swallow nests or asks how to attract them.

In early May a Lubbock resident wrote to say a pair of barn swallows zeroed in on a single metal bolt under their porch and decided to construct their nest around it. He wrote again May 15th and sent a photo – their mud nest was indeed built around the large bolt. He wasn’t sure if they could pull that off, but in no time at all, the swallow home was completed and ready for occupancy.

Photo by Carol Lee, SPWRC

A gentleman called in June for information about barn swallows. He had a pair of nesting barn swallows and wanted to know how he could help insure the success of the parents and their youngsters. The best answer to his question was to keep predators away, give the birds space and don’t bother them, at least until they’re comfortable with your presence.

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a Neotropical migrant, and calls the Texas South Plains home for a few months each spring and summer. They’re found on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. The barn swallow is about six inches long, has a tiny bill, black iridescent back and wings, a brown throat and tan breast and belly. It’s distinguished from other American swallows by its deeply forked tail.

Paired adults look for appealing real estate, and one requirement is that they have easy access, usually through an open door or window. Be sure cats don’t have a way in. As their name implies, barn swallows often nest in barns, outbuildings, under bridges or overpasses, and there’s usually water nearby. In urban areas they may choose a site under a building ledge, arch of a house, porch or covered patio.

If swallows are flying and hunting near your home your chances of attracting them are fair. Some people tell me the adults like to have a lookout – a spot near the nest where they can sit and rest while still keeping an eye on their little ones. They prefer unpainted rough cut wood because the mud they use to construct their nests doesn’t adhere well to smooth surfaces. There’s usually very little headspace above the nest. Droppings underneath can be hosed away and some people use newspapers to catch some of the waste under active nests. By the time the swallows are two weeks old nestlings back up and defecate over the nest’s edge.

Masters of aerial maneuvering, adults must catch insects every few minutes from dawn to dusk when they have four or five hungry offspring. Youngsters fledge when they’re about three weeks old. Barn swallows have two broods, and juveniles from the first brood will help feed the second. Nests will usually be occupied again in subsequent years if left alone.

Perhaps my most memorable rescue and release involved a barn swallow and happened May 20, 2005. I was returning home from errands via busy 82nd street around 5 PM. In one of the three lanes in the opposite direction I was traveling, I saw a little black shape in the road, with wings flapping as cars drove past it. My first thought was that it was a dead barn swallow, its wings flapping because car after car was zooming over it.

I still couldn’t ignore it and pulled into the first side street, dashed out when there was a break in traffic and snatched up the little body. Running back to the car, I buckled up and suddenly felt two tiny feet wrap around my little finger. I couldn’t believe this half-ounce bird could be alive.

It was a hot, frightened adult barn swallow. In another minute I was in the kitchen drawing up IV fluid and medication. Drop by drop, the liquid drizzled into its mouth, helping alleviate shock and cool my little patient. I placed the swallow in a box with a perch on the bottom and over the next hour its respirations gradually slowed and the bird’s eyes opened. I weighed keeping it overnight versus releasing it at dusk, when this species is active and out scooping up bugs.

Suddenly the little swallow rallied, as if just maybe it realized it was saved from certain death in the middle of a busy street at rush hour.

After two more hours of fluids and recuperation, I felt its best hope was to let it go. I did what I could and there were no signs of injuries or damage whatsoever. Suddenly, as I took the bird into the backyard, holding it briefly so it could get oriented, its eyes opened wide, and the unspoken message clearly was, “Let me go…I’m all right, and I can fly.” With that, I slowly opened my hand and as if sprinting at the sound of a gunshot, the swallow dug into my palm with its feet and took wing, soaring over the roof and high into the air, aloft within moments. It was most gratifying to watch.  Releasing this tiny bird was every bit exhilarating as releasing a hawk or an owl. This was a very special rescue that told me I was definitely at the right place at the right time.

My guess is the swallow swooped to the street to snag a bug, became grounded as air flow and cars sped over it, and had no choice but to lie there and wait for fate to take its course. That event made my day, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

During the summer of 2006 I had the privilege to raise a cliff swallow, a new species for the Wildlife Center. It too, was returned to freedom.

If you'd like to readanother column on barn swallows, visit Carol's Chatter for a column written in July, 2008.

 This column was originally published in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in the summer of 2006.