Day 179: They say that the best time to look for a new house is during bad weather so you can tell if the roof leaks or the windows sweat. Violet-Green and friends are checking out the local real estate in vast numbers following yesterday's downpour of rain. I'm sure they will find accommodations to their liking because I gave each house a thorough cleaning last fall when I took them down for the winter and re-roofed as well.
Three species of Swallow visit my property and two (Violet-Green and Tree) make use of one to three apartments each season. The third species (Barn Swallow) takes its summer lease in a neighbor's outbuildings. My photo records don't indicate any type of time-share arrangement between the two types of bird; rather it seems to be a matter of who stakes the first claim.
Tachycineta thalassina (Violet-Green Swallow) is easily differentiated from Tachycineta bicolor (Tree Swallow) by the white feathers surrounding the eye. Tree Swallow's eye is set in dark feathers. The color of the back feathers is often hard to distinguish reliably, although Violet-Green's two-tone iridescence is what gives the species its common name. The female Violet-Green will lay 4-5 eggs in late April or early May, and hatching will commence approximately two weeks later. The young will fledge when they are a little over three weeks old. Both parents will tend the young and may sometimes continue to feed them after they have fledged.
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