Forget Robins!

One of my favorite things to look for in the late spring is the arrival of my good friends, the tree swallows. I always refer to them as "martins" because I grew up with martins and they are very similar birds. However, here in Pennsylvania, they are swallows.

Seriously, you almost have to see it to believe it, but let me tell you why I love them so much.

When I go out to mow the lawn, I really mow the lawn. We have about six acres that are actually mowable on our property and with our tractor, it takes me about four hours to mow the whole thing. In the summer, it can be a hot experience, being in the sun for so long. One of the worst things about it is that there are thousands of bugs hiding in our grass, and I think half of them fly up at me and into my face. The hotter and drier the grass, the more bugs I see.

Swallows and martins are known as the acrobats of the sky. You might have seen them before; they fly fast and low to the ground, scooping up mosquitoes mostly. They fly like stunt planes--swooping, flying straight up, turning quickly. Lucky me, their love of bugs extends to the ones that fly up when I mow.

It is the craziest thing to see. I give them about 10 minutes after I start mowing. They come out of the forest that abuts our land (being tree swallows, their nests are there) and start circling the tractor at high speeds. Sometimes, they scare me a bit because they come so close to my face. If I could slow them down at all, I could probably touch them! For about 20 minutes, 8-10 of them follow me and the tractor, eating up all those nasty bugs. Then, as fast as they appear, they disappear back into the forest. Lucky for them, I'm out in the fields for hours, and within another 30 minutes, they are back for more.

When I mowed two weeks ago, there were no martins yet (they migrate during the winter), but tonight I saw three! I was so excited to see my friends back in the saddle again.