I'm not exactly sure when the baby tree swallows started to sing, but I noticed them chirping and singing last night, rather loudly in fact, while I was out mowing the yard.  They would tend to chirp and sing most of the time when one of the parents was near to feed them.  While it's been a few days since our last monitoring, I take this as a sign that the birds are getting bigger and more aware of things and that they now have their eyes open, and I eagerly look forward to the next monitoring day on Sunday to see what their growth progress is.

Also last night, we have started the process of getting our backyard patio built.  We had a specialist from a nursery come out to look at our yard and to start a basic sketch of what he thinks a good patio would be.  While I was thinking that I wanted a patio that is "bean-shaped," he recommended a round patio, and not quite as far into the backyard as I was thinking, as the backyard starts to slope uphill and it would require more time, work, and money to build the patio on the hill.  He will be sending us the plan and estimate in a few days, and we can decide if we want them to install the patio for us.   This will enable a nice place for us to sit out and enjoy our flower gardens and the birds that come to eat in our backyard.

We are also considering "importing" some toads into our backyard.  They are apparently quite common two blocks away from our house, and last year, we saw one toad in our yard on several occasions.  We are thinking of bringing two or three of the small toads to our yard after making sure that we have adequate water for the toads, and enough places for them to be able to hide from predators and escape from the heat of the day.