Does A Swallow Make a Summer?

Aristotle said, ”One swallow does not make a summer.” And I suppose he should know having been something of a zoologist as well as a philosopher. But up at our island place swallows have meant summer has arrived. For something like twelve years barn swallows, perhaps the same pair, have been using a mud nest affixed to a porch timber and hidden up under the porch roof. We enjoyed their antics, their complete indifference to humans and their amazing flying skills. Most of all we appreciated our mosquito free environment as a squadron of swallows scoured the airspace above our yard and along the beach denuding it of flying insects. (Photo taken by my brother). Swallows are way more efficient than an electric zapper. A swallow may not make a summer but he/she will make certain no flies buzz around the back door. Their aerobatic skills are amazing as they juke, dive and climb searching for prey. They can fly slowly too. At the local golf course swallows follow the golfers around making slow circles at knee level waiting for us to cause those tiny creatures who live in the grass to leap into the air. Then the swallows will helicopter in place and gorge themselves. (There’s a golf joke here about birdies but I can’t quite dredge it out). Barn swallows also disprove the notion that blue and brown don’t go well together. Barn swallows are quite striking. I love the little critters. Thus, it was disturbing to note that they were not occupying the family nest as we approached the beginning of summer. True, the nest had been invaded during the winter by some kinglets. They managed to tear out the front of it and perhaps desecrate it in ways that only  a swallow could understand. In twelve years at least one hundred barn swallows have been hatched in that nest and during the last month we had many barn swallows visitors fly into the porch. They swoop in, seemingly at full speed, pull a six G turn, put the air brakes on, view the nest and fly out again. None of them had the inclination to move in. They worked the back yard just like old times, jinking like fighter planes, but refused the nest. Then something quite interesting happened. A pair of violet-green swallows dumped a load of grass and feathers on the decking beneath the nest and began to make repairs. During part of the construction two barn swallows perched on some coat hooks across from the nest and watched the violet-greens work. We wondered if the violet-greens were some kind of subcontractor; if this was a form of out sourcing. But, in the end, the barn swallows just seemed interested, like someone watching the old family home being remodeled by a new owner. So, swallows are back in the form of these very striking birds who almost glow with iridescence. They have joined with the barn swallows to form a joint strike force which continues to terrorize winged insects. They have established complete air superiority and, fortunately for us, have made arrangements with bats to take over the debugging once they’ve bedded down for the night. And, to answer my question: in respectful disagreement with Aristotle, I believe that one swallow can make a summer.