Note: I originally wrote this on June 21, 2021.

When birding at Delaware's Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge on May 31, I happened to see a pair of barn swallows gliding in and out of the rafters underneath the Dike Trail's observation tower. I took a peek and saw one of the parents tending to a fully formed nest. Then a series of ugly weather days set in, and we were busy with friends visiting from New York. I wasn't able to make the trip to Prime Hook again until June 20, where I found five nestlings being fed by Mom or Dad every 45 seconds or so.

But one of the nestlings seemed to be having trouble breathing. It was unable to even close its mouth because something was in the way. I wasn't sure what I was looking at until the nestling moved its head around to give me a better view. It was struggling to swallow a large bug lodged in its throat. Mom and Dad were ignoring it; the other nestlings pushed it to the back of the nest as part of the evolutionary race to be fed first, fed more.

I messaged my fellow Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research volunteers and was instructed to remove the bug from the nestling's mouth if I was able to reach the nest, which I was (but just barely because I'm pretty short, ugh). Out came some gross abomination — a dragonfly, maybe? — that was as long as the bird itself.

I briefly watched the nestling close its mouth and catch its breath in my hand before putting it back and waiting for Mom and Dad to return. I was afraid that my obvious hovering would force me to leave without seeing the nestling eat again (you have to sit in one particular spot to see the nest at all, and it gives a nice view but is disturbingly close). But thankfully, Mom or Dad came back not much later, and the nestling immediately fought its way to the front of the nest, begging for food and just as animated as its siblings.

I returned the following day, just in case, and captured the video of the five lively babies below!