On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, M. Smith wrote:
> 1.) Since Don beat me to the keyboard, I would venture a guess at the
> Baccus theory. That is, they do nest in close quarters and if the road
> were near a bank they were nesting in, it's feasible that cars could be
> killing them left and right as the birds fly in and out of nesting holes.

Hmm, if the birds were struck by cars as they flew across the roadway,
it would seem likely that at least some of them would fall on the
shoulder, but Dave Nunnalee specifically mentioned that they were only
found on the road. I seem to recall reading a message last summer (on
obol maybe) about hordes of swallows (Cliff?) *on* the road somewhere.
I seem to recall that they were using the warm road surface to warm up
in the am (or was it scarfing bugs or dust-bathing?). (And wasn't it
relatively cool in eastern WA late last week?)

> 2.) Aerial insecticide use after Hurricane Hugo caused brief but
> widespread Tree Swallow mortality in coastal South Carolina. It could be
> that crop-dusting may have somehow caused this, if their prey (or perhaps
> the birds themselves) were sprayed with insecticide and promptly consumed.

Bodies confined to a very small area (and only on the road) would argue
against this one.

David Wright
Seattle, WA
dwright at u.washington.edu