Scott Ray mentioned that tree (or was it V-G) swallows were territorial,
and two houses per pole would leave one vacant for potential bluebirds.

I have been graced with violet-green swallows nesting at my home, first
in a hole in the fascia board of my eave and then in a bluebird house I
put up when I compulsively patched the hole in my house.

There are swarms (15-20) of the birds that loop and circle in my front
yard, many of which swoop by or momentarily stop by the birdhouse. If you
follow the one that momentarily lands, you find that it lands on each
circle and most of the others are just looping by. Still not much entry
yet this year.

Questions:

How far does the territoriality extend? Or, how far away would a second
house need be to have a chance at occupancy? I've put up two more houses,
and have gradually been moving them farther away from the occupied one
over the past few years. I'm up to 30 feet with no takers. Also, does this
swarm of swallows likely constitute an 'extended family'? Are V-G
swallows known to return to the same nesting site year-after-year?

Misc:
Migrants are finding Moscow Mt also. The big wave of white-crowned
sparrows is rapidly thinning out, and the ruby-crowned kinglets also seem
more scarce than a week ago. New this week were yellow warblers, house
wrens, western tanagers, and black-chinned hummers (the rufous and
calliope returned to the Palouse a couple of weeks ago, as others have
reported). Still are numerous Evening grosbeaks around (but no
black-headed as yet), goldfinches, Cassin's finches, three chickadee sp,
zillions of towhees, etc.

A new species for my Moscow Mountain and Latah county lists was a pair of
Lewis' woodpeckers on a Hwy 95 power pole on the north side of Steakhouse
hill towards Viola ID on Saturday. Even at 55 mph (I did confirm with the
classic 'slam on brakes and reverse') the dark backs and reddish belly
hues were clear. Also saw my first yellow-headed blackbirds of the season
cross Hwy 195 15 mi south of Spokane.

Tom Besser
Moscow, ID
tbesser at vetmed.wsu.edu