Seconds

The Barn Swallow chicks are showing their faces much more prominently over the last couple of days in the granary.  Their space is getting a bit crowded and I suspect they will find themselves fledging very soon.  This is the second brood of the summer at the farm, which is fairly typical for the Barn Swallows that call the Genuine Faux Farm home for the warmer months.  What isn't typical is the fairly large number of chicks.  We usually see four, sometimes three, but very rarely five.

According to Audubon, Barn Swallows can have as lay as many as seven eggs in a brood, with the potential for seven chicks.  After seeing the jostling in this nest, I have no idea how seven little birds would have any hope of staying in the nest.

If you look closely, you might notice that the size of the chicks vary, with the smallest at the back left.  I didn't have time to research it, but I can speculate that there could be two reasons for this.  One, many birds do not lay all of their eggs at the same time.  If they are anything like our chickens, they might lay one egg a day over a period of five or six days to form the brood.  Between the age difference and the fact that the chicks compete with each other for food from the parents... there are good reasons for some looking more fit than others.

Barn Swallow eggs hatch about two weeks after they are laid and the chicks are ready to leave the next about three weeks later.  That's pretty darned quick, so it stands to reason that even 24 hours could result in a huge difference in the development of a young bird.  It won't be long before we have large numbers of birds wheeling about our farm again before they all head South.

Anyway, since our second group of Barn Swallow chicks are looking at flying soon, that got me to noticing some other Summer "seconds" on the farm.

Clematis flowers are typically a feature in May or June at the farm.  After they drop the petals from their Spring/early Summer bloom, the plants seem to fade into the background of the perennial garden.  The leaves are green, but not terribly eye catching.  And the plants store up energy for next year's bloom.

Well, things were so dry early in the year that this particular clematis plant must have felt a bit cheated and it still had a bloom left to give.  It just didn't feel that it had enough energy and water until August to push this one open.  So, it's a "second" bloom.  

Just one flower.  Unexpected and unlooked for.  But I took notice of it and I gave it the attention it deserved.

I do hope that the plant has a better year next year so it can get its business done in the time it would prefer.  But I don't mind seeing a flower out of season either.

 

Here is a different kind of "second."  Surprise Lilies (or Naked Ladies) are a different kind of plant.  They send up thick bunches of leaves in the late Spring to early Summer, but they do not flower.  Instead, the leaves die back and there is little to no evidence of the plant in July.

Until....

August arrives and these plants send up stalks with these delicate lily flowers.  Surprise!

It's a second growth that comes after you think the plant has done its bit for the year.  It's a wonderful reminder that there are so many ways in this world where plants, animals... and even people... can be successful.  It isn't required that all of the other flowers understand this kind of success either.

 

We have noticed that some of our bushes as giving us some half-hearted blooms now as well.  The Mock Orange opened a single, lonely flower at the top of a stem.  The Wiegala have a few flowers here and there that the Japanese Beetles love to turn into ragged messes soon after they open.  And, some of the clover we mowed down to encourage a second bloom about four to six weeks ago are now showing us a new bloom that the bumblebees and honeybees are taking notice of.

Spring may be the time for firsts, but don't ignore the "seconds" that August brings us.  They are often less noticeable because there is so much more green growth in our landscape now than there is when leaves are just opening on trees and plants are just pushing up out of the ground.  

Take a moment to search for the unexpected and to enjoy the chicks in the nest before they learn to fly on their own.  And you can take that last statement whatever way you want, because second meanings have value too.