Of Starlings and Barn Swallows

“You’re not an ornithologist,” said my husband.

barn swallow
barn swallow child

Got that right.

Thanks to Roy, a reader in Columbia, Missouri, we discovered the starlings featured in yesterday’s post are actually a fine family of barn swallows.

Roy was kind enough to include a link to photos that helped us identify the nest and the birds. Mother-Daughter Press & Gay Bumgarner Images might as well have shot the pictures at my house.

Barn swallow child doesn’t have quite the same je nais se quoi as starling child.

And this isn’t the first time I’ve had to eat crow on the blog, nor will it be the last. But this is the first time I’ve had to do so over an ornithological misnomer.

“The point is that the bird kept jumping out of the nest,” said my husband.

Yes, dear. Reminds me of a certain blogger we know.

Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good;
haste makes mistakes. Proverbs 19:2 NLT

Little Bird by the Annie Lennox: I’ve just got to put these wings to test.

Who’s next to share an experience of eating crow?