A Flock of Tree Swallows named "Luke Skywalker"

After my plan to begrudgingly set our small mammal traps at Lake Terrell Wildlife Area with the rest of the class was foiled by my arch-nemesis “Hay Fever”, I found myself conveniently sitting below what I could only describe as a “Bird Condo”. It was made up of four bird houses each with four sills to perch on with a conjoined cavity inside. Whoever was leasing the condo was doing something right because there was a plethora of bird species utilizing it.  One group of tree swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, caught my eye immediately by their incredibly dexterous aerial maneuverability.

The "Bird Condo" at Lake Terrell Wildlife Area. (Picture taken by Robinson Low on phone)

                This particular group was comprised of 3-5 males and 2-4 females. It is currently the tree swallow’s breeding season so you can imagine the competition and constant bickering between the males of this group. Add this to their acrobatic twists and turns and I couldn’t help by imagine myself in the middle of the finalspace battle between the Imperial and Rebel forces in Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi. 

                My focus kept returning to their aerial fluidity. As they climb in altitude their frantically fluttering wings seem awkward and energy inefficient.  But once they reach cruising altitude or are descending their wings don’t seem to move at all. Rather than flapping their wings these swallows make use of incredibly precise shifts of the angle of their wings to maneuver through the air. Their knowledge of how wind patterns and aerodynamics affect their flight rivals that of all three Wright Brothers combined.  Specifically, as a tree swallow would approach the bird condo instead of quickly flapping its wings to slow down they angle their wings up, increasing wind resistance. Extraordinarily energy efficient. These precise changes to their wing angle remind me a lot of how pectoral fins on a shark work.  They transition from the awkward, “TIE-Fighter”-esque, wing flapping to the efficient, “X-Wing”-esque, soaring in the blink of an eye.

Two Tree Swallows dive, duck, dip, dive and dodge around the bird condo.(Picture taken by Robinson Low on phone)

Three Swallows continue frolicking. (Picture taken by Robinson Low on phone)

                As is typical of birds they don’t stay in the same spot for very long. This happened with my group of tree swallows and seeing as I cannot fly to continue following them I decided to observe the activity of the bird condo while they were off adventuring.  A lone Purple Martin, Progne subis, perched atop the roof of the bird condo as if observing something far off in the distance. As if on queue out of the corner of my eye I saw large movements coming from the trees lining the water some 500 meters down the lakes edge. A few Great Blue Herons, Ardea herodias, had ventured too close to a Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, and the Eagle had begun chasing them away, squawking to assert its dominance over the area.  It seemed as though the purple martin had been watching them from afar, like Emperor Palpatine watching countless Star Destroyers and Star Cruiserswage war in that final battle. 

A Purple Martin does its best Emperor Palpatine impression. (Picture taken by Robinson Low on phone)

                Eventually the swallows returned with one goal in mind; take back the bird condo. They worked in a coordinated effort, some swooping in on the purple martin while others stood by and squawked angrily while keeping their distance. It was martin versus swallow, good versus bad, the dark side versus the light side of the force, Palpatine versus Luke Skywalker. In a climatic ending a single Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, swooped through the battle coming very close to the bird condo only to find its perch on a nearby shrub. This disturbance caused the purple martin to seemingly become overwhelmed and flee its perch on the condo. It was like the blackbird had been there the whole time, contemplating which side to fight for. Eventually it decided, and made its move, giving strength to the swallows. This blackbird’s name? Anakin Skywalker, otherwise known as Darth Vader.