Chimney Swifts.

As we live in the northern Midwest area, it gets cold in the winter. For almost all of our married life, we have used a wood stove for heating. I will have to say that this is the first year we have ever had Chimney Swifts in our chimney. They are cute little bug eaters like Swallows and Martins, but with wispy feathers on the tip ends of their wings.
This family consists of mom and pop and four little ones. The racket that comes out of the throats of these little one is unreal. They sound like bad windup toys. We can hear them from our second story windows, so we know when they are being fed, as the others watch in agony while one eats.
They had a disaster this past week. The nest fell and broke apart with the little ones and one of the adults in it. Fortunately, we have a clean out hole at the base of the chimney, allowing us, with gloves on, to rescue them. They were all a little stunned. My DH found an old planter bucket that had holes in the bottom. He filled it with some grass clippings and I gingerly placed babys and mother back into it. Eventually, mom flew off.
Then came the hard part. After securing the top with bent clothes hangers at each of three spots, my DH preceded to climb to the top of the chimney and put it into it, securing it with the bent hangars.
We waited for a long time, hoping that the adults would resume feeding them, as they don't respond well to hand feeding. And then, of course it rained that night and we could hear the windup toys for a could part of the evening. It made us sad thinking that they weren't going to make it.
God's grace is wonderful. By the next morning, I happened to see one of the adults fly into the chimney. They are being fed. Hooray!!!
As a reward, we were given the oportunity to see and hear two Pileated Woodpeckers in our oak tree just outside our door. The first that we had the opportunity to see and hear so close. Thank you, Maker.