I have just finished a good book entitled : Swallow Summer by Charles
R. Brown. He and his wife Mary have spent the last 15 years studying
Cliff swallows in nebraska and this book is a good insight into field
work. I was surprised to learn that cliff swallows are aggressive
little butt-heads who steal eggs, practice kleptoparasitism, and are
preyed upon by grackles that that eat their brains. ( I checked it
out of my local library)
The middle got a
bit slow, but the end is great because he discusses his data, what
still surprises him and how much he loves his work. Sample: after
observing interaction between his highly social cliff swallows and
usually solitary roughwing swallows:
"I conclude that rough-winged swallows don't put up with any crap,
not do they dish it out. I wonder if this sort of personal dignity
might be a common characteristic of solitary, self-sufficient
organisms. Maybe only deviants, bullies and wimps live in groups."
Clarice Clark
jbroadus at seanet.com
Puyallup, WA. 98371