This is my time.

Almost every day, beginning in April, I make time (or an excuse) to get out somewhere in my outdoor realm in Carbon County.

Birds are the reason.

One family of birds that makes their return here is the swallow family. One species has returned here already, the tree swallow. But in the next two or three weeks, you might be able to find five other species that will find places to feed and then breed here. The largest is the purple martin, while the smallest is the bank swallow.

Barn swallows are one of the swallow species that seems to be “holding its own.” As the name implies, they, almost exclusively, nest inside barns or farm outbuildings, where they build their mud nests.

They are sleek, fast fliers catching small insects in flight. They have learned to take advantage of farmers cutting hay or homeowners mowing their lawns, flying close behind and grabbing the small insects disturbed into the air. They usually have two broods each year, and by mid- to late August begin their long flights to as far as Argentina.

One threat today is that the old barns with numerous door openings and wooden rafters are being replaced by new metal barns or pole buildings. And, of course, with so many farms now becoming housing developments, I can only see their numbers dropping.

Cliff swallow numbers conversely have increased slightly. They have been adapting to building their mostly enclosed mud nests under bridges, which offer many nesting spots, in addition to their historical cliff nesting areas.

They appear a bit chunkier than barn swallows and do not have the long-forked tails, either. They too migrate considerable distances to much of the same areas as their barn swallow cousins. I have also found them nesting under roof eaves of some large barns.

Tree swallows seemed to have been faring well, benefiting from our love of Eastern bluebirds. With many people erecting bluebird nesting boxes, those unclaimed by bluebirds serve as great nesting sites. Probably half of my bluebird boxes host tree swallows each summer. They migrate later in the summer than the other swallows, and sometimes huge numbers gather on the New Jersey beaches for a few weeks until moving to the southern United States or Central America for the winter. They historically nested in tree cavities in marshes and lakes.

The largest swallows here are the purple martins. They are colonial birds (nesting in groups) in specially constructed martin houses or dried, suspended gourds. They are the heaviest and have a wingspan of almost 16 inches. They tend to fly much higher than other swallows. They will return here shortly from their South American wintering areas.

The last two swallow species are not doing as well. The rough-winged swallows and bank swallows are/were traditional river and gravel bank nesters.

Bank swallows often nested in colonies where they dug burrows into the clay or silt banks, sometimes 2 or 3 feet deep. I only knew of one nesting colony in the Times News area. With such a rapidly dropping population, they are actually a species of concern.

Meanwhile, the rough-winged swallows also are experiencing a decline. They do have one advantage in that they often use the 4-inch drainage pipes in retaining walls as nest sites.

Biologists aren’t certain as to why the drop in both species. My theory is that increasing flash flooding of streams from suburban runoff quickly raises stream levels in summer downpours. Their burrows, normally well above summer stream levels, now get flooded and broods are lost.

Look for all of these swallows arriving here in the next few weeks; so, get out there.

Test Your Outdoor Knowledge: The ___ swallow species is actually found on every continent except Antarctica. A. barn; B. tree; C. cliff; D. rough-winged.

Last Week’s Trivia Answer: The mourning cloak butterfly is usually the first butterfly to be seen in spring since they overwinter as adults in tree cavities, etc. (They survive freezing temperatures.)

Email Barry Reed at breed71@gmail.com