I'm an empty nester. Again.

My baby barn swallows grew up too fast. They were just hatched a few weeks ago. Harry and Sally are just really good parents. 

This was a few days ago. There were 5 of the babies. But 1 fell out. There was not a whole lot of room in that little nest. And they got big fast!

This was yesterday morning. They were getting ready to fly. I put the cats in the cat room, so they couldn't get any of the babies while they were trying to fly.

Just look how big these guys are! They are all so sweet. I talk to them all the time, so they were never afraid of me.

This was yesterday, after I got done milking the goats. The first baby flew out to the wire. I had to be gone all day, so was going to miss all the fun.

When I got back home, I went to check on them. This is what I saw. The only one who flew out, flew back in to his siblings. Couldn't get back in the bed though. It was too full!

And this was later this morning. I went back out after milking, and saw 6 birds on the wire. Then they all took off flying around. It was so pretty to see.

But then a little while later, I went in to get the milk out of the freezer. I looked up and saw one of the parent birds on the wire in front of the nest. Then it flew over to that board to the right. I didn't even see the little baby over there. Can you see it?

It was just sitting up there, being really quiet. The next time I went in, it was gone.

So I am now an empty nester. I will miss those birds a lot. It was so fun to have them there, for such a short time though. I worried about them too much though. And I am so sad that one of the babies didn't ever get to fly.

But there will be more again. And they will come back next spring.