Hi Tweets,

On Sunday February 11, Michael Price wrote:

>>The earliest *known* migrant arrival date in the GVCA is still that of Tree
>>Swallow, February 21, although there is strong evidence that some seabirds
>>actually migrate into the GVCA before that. The abrupt appearance in mid-
>>to late February of Common Loons and Horned and Red-necked Grebes in mid-
>>to well-advanced Alternate Molt amidst local birds in Definitive Basic that
>>they will retain for at least another four to six weeks before beginning
>>molt strongly suggests that actual northbound migration begins about Feb.
>>10-15.

On Sunday February 11, Eric Greenwood wrote:

>Tree Swallows were reported from Reifel Refuge on Friday (9th) and Saturday
>(10th).

Sorry for any confusion. What I had meant to say, and blithely thought it to
be clear given the context of previous material in my post, was that the
earliest known *Average* arrival date in the Greater Vancouver (BC)
Checklist Area was that of Tree Swallow, whose *average* arrival date is
February 21. This year's arrival dates are if not the earliest (which I
believe to be Feb 08 1990 or maybe '91) then the second earliest on record
for this species in the GVCA. Incidentally, Violet-green Swallow's *average*
arrival date is a few days later at February 26.

Experience shows that the actual Tree and Violet-Green Swallow arrivals can
be as much as 14 days early and as much as ten days late in appearing at the
'traditional' and adequately-monitored arrival sites of the Reifel Refuge
and Serpentine Fen.

Michael Price
Vancouver BC Canada
mprice at mindlink.net