In early July 1983, a pair of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) began a late nesting in one of my nest boxes about 6.7 km south of Rollinsville, Gilpin County, Colorado. The box contained four newly laid eggs on 10 July.
The female did not have a band, and when I captured her for banding on 16 July, I discovered that both her right eye and eyelid had recently been torn open, and her crown had been stripped of feathers along a narrow line extending from the right orbital area across to the other side of the head. The wound to the eye was still open and exuding fluid. Examination of her plumage coloration indicated that she was at least two years old (Cohen, J. Colo.-Wyo. Acad. Sci. 12:44–45, 1980; Hussell, J. Field Ornithol. 54:313–318, 1983).