I photographed this barn swallow sitting above the doorway of a barn type building here on the BC coast recently. A living, natural pest control, barn swallows love to fly around swooping and diving after bugs & flies that just annoy the hell out of most people. Some people however think of these swallows as the pest too as they often like to build their mud, twig and feather lined nests on the sides of buildings such as barns, sheds and houses and the mess left beneath the nest can often be quite the eyesore and takes some cleaning. It is amazing though to see how, from a very young age, the birds quickly learn to poop out of the nest by turning and putting their behinds over the side of the nest to go, rather than doing it in the nest!










