Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, November 20, 2014

To the editor:

I was outside one day and noticed some barn swallows. They had three little ones.

One was trying his best to fly and not doing too bad. Another was on the edge of the nest thinking about it. The last one was way down in the back of the nest. The parents were frantic trying to keep an eye on the one flying along with watching the other two.

The parents would take turns fluttering in front of the nest as if to say look, this is how you do it. The baby bird on the edge of the nest turned around so his back was to mom and dad. This made me smile.

I thought, isn't this just like kids? You might have a child that will jump into anything with both feet. Maybe one that says I'll do it when I want to or the one that thinks I want no part of that.

Watching the family of birds made me laugh. I guess the moral of the story is if you take a moment once in awhile to look around you might see something to make you smile ... and it that not worth it?

P.S. All three baby birds were out flying the next day. Cheers to Mr. and Mrs. Swallow.

Jerri Stewart
Ellston

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, January of 2015