The Swallows--Gulp--Are Back

Each spring, students at Happy Valley School glance out their dormitory windows toward the gently sloping chaparral-covered hills.

The blizzard of white specks obscuring the usually spectacular view of the Topatopa Mountains means just one thing.

The swallows have arrived.

“They scare me to death,” grumbled 17-year-old Taylor Mitchell. “There’s tons of them. I hate them.”

The 11th-grader’s fear was far from Hitchcockian.

“I’m afraid of walking under them and getting hit,” he said.

For the past 18 years, hundreds of the twittering, beetle-eating creatures have made the private high school off the windy and scenic California 150 their spring and summer retreat, administrators say.

Triggered by hormonal changes, thousands of colonies of the graceful sparrows abandon their nests in Neotropical regions in South America. They head north for the warmer shores of California, eating insects in midair along the way.

In one fell swoop, many of them land in Ojai around March. These birds prefer the boarding school--with its stucco buildings’ window ledges--over the ever-popular mission in San Juan Capistrano.

“We call it swallow condo-land,” said Lane Toler, the school’s assistant director. “It’s a mixed bag. Some of us like them very much. But some people don’t because they’re very messy.

“I personally like them,” Toler added. “Because it signals spring. That means summer break is near.”

The swallows are drawn to the school’s many north-facing overhanging ledges in which they build their gourd-shaped mud nests. They prefer ledges protected from the sun.

They are also attracted by the vernal pound that covers half an acre.

“As long as they have mud and water they’re happy,” said Aaron Feiner, an ornithologist and author who lives in Lancaster. “That’s all they need.”

Once a colony arrives at a destination point, the flock pairs off, Feiner said. Both male and female help build their elaborate nests, each made of hundreds of tiny mud balls.

The male usually forms the mud balls with his bill and carries them to the nest site, taking about 1,500 mouthfuls of dirt to construct one nest. Then the female carefully constructs a mud shell, leaving a small, round opening just large enough to permit the birds to enter.

Finally, they carpet their new homes with fine grass and feathers. The process takes about two weeks, Feiner said.

The sparrows and their nests are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, he added. That means it’s against federal law to remove an egg-filled nest.

Students at Happy Valley know this. Each year, science instructors take advantage of the on-site nests to teach students about the species and its habits.

“I certainly view them as being a good thing,” science teacher Dave White said. “They’re a great resource and wonderful to have here.”

Last year, White had his students map out the spots where the swallows nested. This year he had them predict where they would build their nests. Some of the chosen places--such as a wall that faces the sun--surprised White and the students.

But some students bristle at even learning about the swallows. Take Jessica Lonsdale, 16, who one day decided to ditch her science class.

The punishment?

“They made me spend two hours cleaning bird poop from the dormitory windows,” Jessica said. “That is really, really hard work.”