Just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia, there is a walking bridge across the James River. The cliff swallows have taken residence in the tall concrete columns. Attaching their mud nests to the ceiling, they lay their eggs and hatch out their young as people come and go below.
Red mud nests hold young
Voracious appetites keep
Cliff Swallows feeding
Photos: Dwight L. Roth
Frank Tassone’s Haikai challenge for today is to include the Swallow. We saw these amazing birds feeding as we walked across the James River one Mother’s Day. Somehow it seemed appropriate to be watching mother feeding their babies high overhead.
Come join us at: https://frankjtassone.com/2019/03/23/haikai-challenge-78-3-23-19-swallow-tsubame-haiku-senryu-haibun-tanka-haiga-renga/
If you are over sixty, you might remember Pat Boone’s song: “When the swallows come back to Capistrano…” !
Yes, and a children’s book by Leo Politi ( I think that is his name) on the same topic. Beautiful.
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Thanks Jan!. I will have to look up that book!
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Wow! Great photos!!
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Thanks Valarie! They are very unique birds.
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I love the photos, Dwight. Bird nests are interesting.
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Can you imagine how many beakfulls of mud it took to construct those nests!
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Yes, I can tell!
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Wonderful pictures and subject Dwight. I am so taken with the covered bridges of all sorts you seem to have in Carolina and this time comes the addition of the sweetest swallo nests.
I love swallows as they arrive in spring.
Miriam
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Thanks Miriam. This one was unique in that it was all concrete. Eastern Pennsylvania has a lot of old covered bridges. My younger brother is a biker and bikes the back roads through many of them in Bucks County!
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Yes, previous pictures I have seen were mainly wood.
Is Bucks County in Pennsylvania?
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Amazing bird life!
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Swallows are so entertaining to watch.
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They really are…. They come and go very quickly!
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Reblogged this on Frank J. Tassone and commented:
#Haiku Happenings #2: Dwight’s latest #haibun for my current #haikai challenge!
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Even down here I remember that song 🙂 Here Welcome swallows do the same thing – I’m always amazed by them, thanks for the post Dwight.
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You are welcome. I was pre-teen when the song came out in the fifties!
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My father played him all the time, so i came to Boone in the 60s, amazing the way things happen.
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These are such wonderful photos. Thanks for sharing, Dwight!
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You are welcome… I thought they were beautiful birds!
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That song I remember it too. Your photos are amazing Dwight. Lovely haiku.
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Such a beautiful post! Your photos are wonderful.
I love that part of Virginia. The bridge in your photo looks like it would be a great place to explore!
And those Swallows are precious. Very interesting to watch. Loved how you presented all of it. ❤
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Thank you so much for reading and commenting. It was a beautiful place to visit, especially in the spring!
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Nice poem 🙂 And I didn’t realize it was Pat Boone who sang the song, how ’bout that!
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Yes, along with April Love!
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Now that one I remember!
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I remembered the swallows of Capistrano, just not the song.
Lovely photos and verse.
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