From The House Of Chirp

Day 229: It won't be long before little faces begin popping up in the doorway of the House of Chirp. Mom has been making repeated trips out to capture food, and is already carrying away full-sized fecal sacs as part of her housekeeping duties. I have yet to hear the chorus of chirps which gives the House its name, but unlike human children, baby swallows mind their parents when told to hush or duck down because danger is nearby. Now as for this eggshell, it was dropped almost straight down beneath the House, landing on soft moss beside my garage door. The way the halves have separated indicate a healthy hatching. When it is time to emerge from the egg, a chick pecks a line around the widest latitude and the shell separates neatly (by bird terms, at least), held together by the thin membrane lining the interior. If a predator had opened it, it would be irregularly fractured and likely would be broken into multiple pieces. Swallows pick their nesting sites carefully. The doorway of the House of Chirp is a lightly-sanded 1 1/4", just big enough for an adult to fit through, small enough to keep the unpleasant neighbours (Starlings) out.