These are the baby barn swallows from nest number two. The chicks from nest number one have already fledged and I've collected that nest. I check on the chicks in nest number two every day and can't believe how quickly they're growing. I watched the one in the middle stretching and flapping it's wings yesterday.
Nest number three, the nest in the dryer vent hole, turns out to be violet-green swallows. Violet-greens had a nest in the same dryer vent hole last year. I didn't know that they reused their nests, and it may be that they don't, they just reuse the nesting site. There's no way I'll be able to climb up this high to investigate the matter. Yesterday, on my way to the store, I spotted four little chicks sitting at the mouth of this vent hole, but didn't have my camera with me. I made sure to take my camera today, but could only spot two of the four chicks. Compare the two species of chicks and what do you see? The barn swallows are blue and peach, whereas the violet-greens are grey and white. No matter what color they are, they're all cute!
Now, back to the mystery eggs that I promised to research. To me, they look just like some of the amphibian eggs that were laid in the spring, only this is the middle of July. The eggs that were laid in the spring have hatched into tadpoles and the tadpoles have already developed into little froglets and are just about ready to hop out of the lake. I thought about what else could be laying eggs in the lake and my first guess was dragonflies, so I looked up dragonfly egg images on the internet and they do not match the eggs I found in the lake. My second guess was perhaps pond snail eggs, but I couldn't find any pond snail egg images that matched this description either. That took me full-circle, back to frogs. If there are any scientists out there who know what these are, please drop me a comment so that I can let everyone else know. Your imput will be much appreciated.
Teri I. Lenfest
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