Squatters.

We have some unintentional house guests of late. We noticed splotches of mud on our porch a few weeks ago, then noticed a couple of swallows sort of hanging around the front of our house. Pretty soon, this is what we saw.


We watched for a few weeks. No eggs. Then, all of a sudden, this is what we saw.
The pictures are very close up and not very good, but it was hard to get a good shot because the nest was so close to the corner of the front of our house and the ceiling of our porch. But they were sure cute! These were taken the day before we left for Washington. By the time we got back, the baby birdies were HUGE! I went to take a picture of some of them nestled in there, but was too abrupt and scared them out of the nest. They haven't all been back all cute and snuggly since then, so I'm just posting what I got. Anyone have any idea how long they might intend to stay? It's making quite the mess on our front step. I'll spare you the visual of that one. ;)