And then there were three

It's hard to believe how quickly the baby welcome swallows have grown since the eggs hatched. The photo above shows all five of them in the nest only a couple of days ago. More recently, they have been venturing out of the nest and along the beam.

Well, today they started leaving the nest, with mixed results. While I was on the phone to someone at work today, I spotted the dog playing with something in the paddock and ran out to rescue a baby bird from her mouth. He didn't seem injured, but as WIRES rescue volunteers some years ago we saw plenty of birds simply die of shock rather than injury. David popped him back in the nest.

Now there are three of them left, sitting either in the nest or on the beam next to it. We don't know where the other two have gone, whether they have fledged successfully or... not. Those remaining look pretty healthy and are eating well, even the one who had a brief scary adventure as a dog's plaything, so I guess it won't be too long before they too venture out on their own. Hopefully they won't jump out of the nest and into the waiting jaws of the dogs. We did question the wisdom of the swallows in choosing to build their nest above the dogs' sleeping area... possibly not the greatest location. We are keeping the pups indoors and supervised as much as possible.