This year, over the past 2-3 weeks we have had an infestation of miller moths. My garage was full of these pesky things the past few weeks. I wished for a good solution and it happened.
Last year, we had 3 cliff swallow nests attached to our roof peaks. At any given time, you could step outside and see 40-60 cliff swallows swopping around within 10-20 seconds. Well, mysteriously, I noticed a sudden lack of miller moths the other day and no bodies in the garage. I had seen some swallows swooping around, and about the time the millers disappeared, I noticed a new mud nest under full construction.
Seems the cliff swallows from last year return to re-build their nest(s) and gorge themselves on a high-protein diet of miller moths, or at least the ones my terriers didn’t get (inside the house the moths don’t stand a chance.) I welcome these swallows: they can build their nests as long as they offer insect control.
As I was writing this, possibly a Cooper’s Hawk nailed a rabbit not 10 feet from my window. He was fairly large (at first I thought it was a golden eagle but later realized it wasn’t) and had real yellow legs and long black talons. He pounced on a young rabbit a few times, and after 5 minutes took-off with dinner in-tow; one less rabbit for my terriers to chase. It kind of took me by surprise as it happened so quickly, close and silently. As it flew off it had a fairly good wingspan (3-4’ ft?) and wasted little time getting airborne. I know we have hawks out, just not sure about what kind.
Chuck Bessant
Peyton, CO
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