I saw a few this past weeekend, but here in NOVA they don't really come back enforce until May.

I saw a pair checking out the barn on April 15th :D I found a cool web site that sells barn swallow nest shells, ordered 8 of them. If they work as well as advertised, I can locate the nests out of the way so that droppings don't cover the John Deere like they did last year.

Here is a link that might be useful: American Artifacts

Have you seen any yet?...Ours in Beaverdam have been back for some time now...

We've had barn swallows for about a week here in the Shenandoah Valley. Tree swallows have been here longer (my favorite of the swallow family).

I hope you get several nesters in your barn :o)

Just a follow-up note... the barn swallows departed in August, I think around the 15th. They were there one day and suddenly gone the next. I was sad to see them go, I don't even enjoy being able to close the barn door again.

It was a very hard year on the colony, perhaps does not bode well for their return. Many if not all of the hatchlings died. Most seemed to have fallen victim to our cats, a fact that I resent bitterly as I am not the cat lover in the family. Another pair I found drowned in the horse trough, for which again, I felt a certain level of culpability.

Their presence was nonetheless a delight. We felt included in their morning gatherings as they swooped around the barn and chicken coop feasting on the abundant insect population. I appreciated their company as they followed me on the tractor through the pasture.

If you don't have barn swallows on your property, I encourage you to work on attracting a colony. They have tremendous personality and are a source of real joy in the garden.