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.’

A Home in the Hills..

My father lives in the Himalayas.. his bedroom overlooks a valley at the back..

More snow views are a little way off his property... a place called sheetla.

At a nearby hotel.. his house is enough just for him as there isn’t that much flat land available all together in the Himalayas.. 

Appa's land stretches till that tree-line at the back. in the foreground is the hundred thousand litres tank which takes in rainwater from the roofs of the house. this is the sole water supply at the property but does quite nicely.

Near this tank is the old house that came with the property and is approached by a flight of 20 steps in the open.. We live here when we visit..

Swallows, who winter in india and go back for summer to the northern hemisphere, build nests at his house as well as in the nearby shops !

This is the last of our 7 dogs - Mili.

One travels to the hills by road by car (though public bus and train are available too) - and we stock up on seasonal fruit being sold on roadsides on the highways - in this case Mangoes !

There were many fruit trees on my father's property - peach, apple, plums, but langoors or leaf monkeys have destroyed most of them.