It looks like an Alfred Hitchcock movie, but it’s actually a scene from Tuesday afternoon in The Glen at Widefield neighborhood.
Barn swallows have swarmed the neighborhood where Lance Riehl and his family just moved in. The birds have homeowners checking the sides of their homes everyday, and state officials reminding residents of the penalties that come with harassing these birds.
"Moving into a new house is stressful enough," Riehl said. "We’ve got a bunch of stuff and a bunch of kids and what not, but yeah, it’s one more problem to deal with."
Since Friday, about 100 hundred barn swallows have tried building nests along the stucco homes, using mud from a nearby pond. One home in the neighborhood is completely surrounded along the roof by the birds and their nests.
We showed video of the occurrence to Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials, who say it’s common for the birds to come to Colorado around May. Cody Wigner, district wildlife manager for the state department, said they aren’t all bad either.
"This time of year, as those barn swallows are migrating from Mexico back north, they kind of swarm up like that and they find where the insects are, and they’re eating insects and building nests for their breeding season," Wigner said.
But it creates an understandable headache for homeowners like Riehl.
He and neighbors tried tin foil, noises and other tricks, until his wife discovered something else.
"And she took the sheet and she was kind of shaking the sheet around, and as she did it, the birds just instantly, you know, a hundred or so birds just scattered right away," Riehl said. "So, she thought, ‘Hey! Maybe they don’t like the motion of the sheet, or the sound of the sheet, I’m not sure.’"
That’s why several house now have flags hanging outside the windows on every side of the home. They’ve found the flapping of the flags, and the sounds they make, help deter the birds.
But Parks and Wildlife officials are reminding homeowners not to harass or even kill the birds.
The barn swallows are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, so any tampering with their active nest-building is illegal.
"If you are caught harassing or destroying that nest, it is illegal," Wigner said. "And if caught, you will be fined some money for harassing that wildlife and possible taking or injuring that wildlife as well."
