Welcome, Neighbours

 

All of a sudden, for the first time since I've lived here, mud swallows have decided to move in. It took only a few days, and endless mouthfuls of mud mixed with saliva, for three pairs to establish their "condos": Two under the roof of the chicken coop and one over the light on the garage.
At first, I assumed they were barn swallows simply because we live in the country and barns are disappearing.

Barn Swallow

But a barn swallow's nest is twigs and grass mixed with mud and a traditional open nest like we're used to seeing with other birds.
It is the CLIFF swallow (which is what a mud swallow actually is called) that builds the rounder mud nests with the small hole opening.

Cliff Swallow

The colouring matches the birds I see, that white forehead being very distinctive even in the first photo with the blurred bird in motion.
So this is lovely. We've been housing tree swallows for years in bird houses but it's nice to welcome a new species. I'm sorry we don't have a barn; it would be nice to complete the swallow trifecta.

Tree Swallow