The story of the Swallows in the Himalayas..

I found more pictures of Swallows in the Himalayas that I thought I would share.. here is this remarkable nest built on my father’s rain-shade at his front door – made with mud by the swallow parents.

And here is the parent swallow.. Janaki Lenin writes in the Hindu that ‘Unlike other birds that seek natural settings far away from humans to raise their young, barn swallows seem to idealise human-made structures.’ The article is very charming and worth a read.

While these pictures were taken by my father and husband in the Himalayas, here is a clearer one from the net.

And here are the babies in the same nest we saw before.. Janaki writes : ‘Swallows sit on overhead electric lines, watching the hustle and bustle of the street below. When one spots and insect, it swoops down, weaving its way between pushcarts, vehicles, and pedestrians. The bird snaps up its insect prey in mid-flight and dives into the shop or house to cram its prize into a hungry yellow mouth.’

Here is the final picture taken at a nearby shop of the parent swallow in mid-flight. Janaki writes : ‘Many shops in market areas across the Himalayas — from Kullu in Himachal Pradesh to Kurseong in West Bengal — host the nests of barn swallows. Some have three or four nests, and the space above people’s heads is busy with air traffic as the parent birds speed in and out, provisioning their young.’