Poem: Gulp - the swallows have arrived

Tree Swallow with bug - Photo by Scott Ramos

Gulp - the swallows have arrived

By Jean Bryant

Inspired by For the Birds: The Swallows are Coming

It makes me GULP to hear you say

Those SWALLOWS are coming every day

Their acrobatics are so keen

Meals on the fly is what I mean

Daylight hours is when they fly

When insects they can clearly spy

With their short wide bills open wide

Those flying insects glide inside

No other songbirds can compare

They spend more wing time I declare

They’re vacuum cleaners of the skies

Mosquitos, gnats,flying ants they prize

They’re monogamous is what I’m told

To mates and sites they are not cold

They will return Let’s give a cheer

They are not fly-by-nights it’s clear

Their food supply is known to suffer

When too much rain there is no buffer

And pesticides deplete their larder

It makes their searching that much harder

They try to help to nab each pest

That bothers us –they do their best

Termites they gladly scarf right down

Such lovely helpers when in town

Their colors are bright and some are blue

 I like to see them –don’t you too

Aerial acrobatics are their game

BLUE ANGELS-- that’s the name they claim