Barn Swallow Baby Love

Oh my goodness look what is in the barn at the farm!!

There are probably 8  Barn Swallow nests the barn, and I've been telling the boys they should be hatching soon. A few days ago while I was waiting for Tristen to get done feeding the calf, I just happened to look up and see a little sweet and UGLY face looking down at me.
I counted 4 of them. They are adorable. Every time the flash would flash, they would all stretch out their necks and open their mouths wiiiiidddde open. You can't see it in the picture, but they all have this hilarious white fuzzy mohawk on the top of their heads.

I was worried about them with the high wind we've had over the past days. Afraid I'd go check on them and find the nest blown down, but they were just fine this evening. I'd like to know exactly what they use to make their nests, to be able to withstand some of the winds we have. I also found it interesting the parents pick up horse hair and even other feathers to build with.

One summer when I was about 10 or so, we had one build a nest right above our front door. It was so amazing to watch the parents build the nest, lay the eggs, see them hatch, and then grow up and leave. I'll never forget it...nor the amount of bird crap that was on our porch that summer!