I was watching a flock of violet-green swallows slowly drift west
over
Woodlawn Ave N about noon today, and I noticed that occassionally a
pair of swallows would make beak to beak contact. As I watched, it
sure looked to me that one of the swallows was a juvenile, who
flapped
his wings more than necessary as the parent came near and handed off
a bug of some sort. It makes complete sense, now that I've seen it,
but it never occurred to me before. It's exactly what other young
birds do on the ground. I've seen families of barn swallows lined
up on phone wires, and if I thought about young ones getting fed,
I would probably have thought of that.

So, am I interpreting the swallow behavior correctly? And do all
swallows do the airborn feeding tango?

thanks

bob mauritsen
bluetooth at csi.com