Along old Route 66 in Oklahoma, Jeff and I decided to find a nice park for lunch. We drove through a couple towns and could not even find some shade, much less a park. We finally settled on an underpass of I-40 where we moved to the back of our van/camper and fixed a couple sandwiches. Once we were finished I went outside to walk around and noticed the underpass was full of nests of some type.
The nests were bottle shaped, made out of mud and numerous. Such a large group made me pretty sure they were swallow nests, but I was not sure of which.
The more I thought about it the more sure I was that they were cliff swallows. We saw no birds other than a lone pigeon.
Some of the nests were broken and some had grass sticking out the opening. I had never seen anything like it, so it was hard to get back in the camper to move on.
The next interesting bird for me was a magpie. I do realize that if you are from magpie country, they aren't a big thrill. They must be a bit like crows for you people but for me they are beautiful rare birds. Also, I know they have a good sense of humor, because I have seen them on television laughing at people who walk into glass doors that have recently been cleaned with some particular brand of window cleaner.
For you westerners, I am sorry to be so trite. Maybe you can use this picture to gain a new appreciation of a common bird.
