in mid-July, the summer-resident barn swallows who had successfully raised and launched four fledglings by June 23rd, 2025, attempted to raise a second brood;

while i am not absolutely sure if it was the same set of parents or another in the barn swallow community that utilized the nest — as there is a collective of more than a dozen swallows that visits and assists in feeding sometimes too — it is most likely they are the same parent pair;

this is the second summer the barn swallows have nested here in my barn — using last year’s well-constructed nest which they attached to one of the joists like a balcony cantilevered on a Chicago highrise;

i began leaving the overhead barn door open when i first noticed them circling and investigating the barn a few years back; and i was thrilled last year when they began construction of their nest — they were so very welcomed and wanted here — i now know to leave the barn door raised from mid May through July to give them access.

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last week, i observed the arrival of a second brood of hatchlings – one by one, another four, at least, possibly five —

but yesterday, as i went to change out the barn swallow “diaper” — with fresh materials

all swallow communities produce a prolific amount of guano — as i first learned at my attendance at the nightly bat flight at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico — where the Cavern not only houses hundreds of thousands of bats but several thousands cave swallows too // “my” barn swallows here also produce and toss an impressive amount of guano from their nest down onto the barn floor below — so i layer material inside of the kiddie pool to catch it for easier clean-up )

i noticed one nestling lying there,

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they were still warm but not breathing and limp — so, i went to gather leaves, flowers and herbs for their funerary, put on disposable gloves and then gently retrieved their tiny body — i immediately saw they were covered in mites, and then the mites began to overtake my gloves — i quickly, very quickly, bundled their body and placed it in the scrublands adjacent to my house;

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later in the afternoon, i found another nestling dead, also from mite infestation;

the outlook was grim. i continued to check on the barn swallow family til Sun’s set.

this morning i found another,
and when i say there were thousands of mites on my gloves within a second, i mean thousands!

there is no doubt that none of the remaining nestlings would survive to fledge — the nest has been absolutely colonized by mites and there is nothing the poor parents can do — they are helpless and risk catastrophic mite infestation themselves now;

it is not safe for me to use a ladder to reach and abate the nest right now — the height coupled with tens of thousands of active mites —

so it belongs to the mites, for now.

but, how were the mites introduced?

— i know that it’s risky for birds to use the same nest in the same season, because i have witnessed a second brood of house wrens in a ceramic orb birdhouse become infested with mites; and it has been quite a hot summer here in my spot of Southwestern Michigan; or the old — or even fresh, nest bedding materials may have been contaminated; the barn and land have plenty of rodentia pass through and they are often carriers of mites;

and while it is sad that an invading, occupying, and multiplying colonizing force numbering tens of thousands can destroy your home, your nursery and your children, this pestilence and plague was natural and unintentional, and without malice.

this morning momma barn swallow kept vigil solo and helplessly at her silent and infested nest from her perch on the light fixture — she couldn’t even evacuate and relieve the suffering of her remaining dying nestling(s).

this, contrasted with a well-funded, both overtly and tacitly-condoned, and intentionally-engineered invasion and colonization of your home and homelands; and the diabolical quick and slow extermination of your children — of all your people.

there aren’t words except two:

holocaust and genocide.

what a tragic monday morning, here and everywhere when babies can no longer even muster a cry for food or for their mothers,

and die,

while all you can do is watch.

Gaza,

Sudan,

Congo.

have mercy.