True Community Values, as Demonstrated by House Martins

True community values have been demonstrated by house martins all summer here in my home, and, thankfully, on many other houses throughout Europe and beyond. A species feared to be in serious decline has proved its resilience, and far more. It is many years since these beautiful summer visitors have chosen to nest here: for a few seasons house martins have shown passing interest in the false nests I put up for them, but it was only in this spring of 2013 that a pair settled and bred – twice. The second brood was born and nurtured at the time when, due to renovations, my working space changed to a window below the house martin nest, and I have been able to observe in detail their rearing practice, and to see how far the wider house martin community is involved in the well-being of the fledglings. A number of house martins breed in the village which lies beyond my home, and while they fly amongst the trees and waters here in their search for food, they do not pay great attention, usually, to the immediate area here; they are gregarious birds, and often, this summer, I have felt a pang of sadness, and gratitude, to see one brave bird flying back alone at dusk to join its mate sitting patiently on her eggs in the nest under our eaves. House martins like a community, and to nest communally with their peers, and one lone nest is – lonely. It changed as the babies grew in their nest: more frequently, the local house martin group flew around the house, calling loudly as they flew past the young, sometimes helping the parents to feed the new generation with insects caught on the wing. For the last few days I have seen the fledglings, close to flight, pushing their heads forward out of the nest to be closer to food and also to watch their extended family flying close by, encouraging them to emerge. Today, sitting at my temporary vantage point of work, I have been entranced to see dozens of house martins circling excitedly above me for most of the day as baby heads looked out in wonderment: sometimes the adults brought food, sometimes they teased by flying close and then veering off at the last minute as if to say, “if you want food, you must come out and get it”. Amongst the crowd were the four young birds born in the same nest some weeks ago, to the same parents, and they too were being taught about life as a house martin, learning about nesting and feeding and flying as they were taught to try out and even build other nests on the house.  All the local house martins combined to work together for the sake of the next generation, and each other, here where I live and, I am sure, wherever else there are other nests nearby. True community values are being demonstrated by these house martins – values of unconditional support, affection, shared responsibility and equality; they remind me of the values of Lemurians, so long ago. Many of us would abhor being compared to a bird, but I would be honoured to be part of a human community with the natural principles of the house martin.   [byline] The house martin image used in this blog was taken from Wikipedia.]]>