Subject: late swallows (was two weekend report...)
Date: Dec 1 23:06:43 1999
From: Rahne Kirkham - rahne at mindspring.com


Last weekend, my friend, Christine Vadai, saw a violet-green swallow while
on the Port Townsend Marine Center Protection Island cruise. Pretty late for
a v-g.
Rahne Kirkham
Federal Way, Washington
rahne at mindspring.com
"Joy is the serious business of Heaven"
C.S.Lewis
----- Original Message -----
From: WAYNE WEBER <WAYNE_WEBER at bc.sympatico.ca>
To: TWEETERS <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 12:04 AM
Subject: Re: late swallows (was two weekend report...)


> Tweeters,
>
> Jack Bowling's note may be slightly misleading in suggesting that
> Barn Swallows have "overwintered" in the Lower Mainland of B.C. (i.e.,
> Vancouver area). To my knowledge, Barn Swallows have never survived
> the winter in the Vancouver area. Except for 1994-- when one Barn
> Swallow stuck it out at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary until Feb. 5, and
> one at Iona Island until Feb. 9-- the latest "departure date" I am
> aware of is January 2, 1970. The average "departure date" for 20 years
> in the Vancouver area (1968 to 1993, with a few years' data missing)
> is December 4, and the earliest departure date is October 31.
> Campbell et al. (The Birds of B.C., Vol. 3) also list February
> records of Barn Swallow in 1970 and 1978, but complete details of
> these records (e.g. names of observers) are not available, and I
> consider them questionable.
> The vast majority of Barn Swallows have left the Vancouver area by
> early October. However, there are always a few stragglers in places
> which offer flying insects in November and December-- mainly the Iona
> Island sewage ponds and the sloughs at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary. As
> long as the sloughs and ponds remain unfrozen, there are usually a few
> insects (mainly chironomids, I believe) flying about. However, even in
> the mildest winters, these water bodies end up freezing over for at
> least a few days, and the swallows disappear, having presumably
> starved and/or frozen to death. You would think this tendency to stay
> into December would be weeded out by natural selection, but every year
> there are a few foolhardy Barn Swallows that attempt the impossible.
> The Ladner Christmas Bird Count, which includes the Reifel Bird
> Sanctuary, has twice recorded Barn Swallows on the Christmas Bird
> Count: 4 in 1969 (Dec. 26) and 2 in 1974 (Dec. 14). In 1969, Ladner
> beat out the usual leader-- Coot Bay, Florida (in the Everglades)--
> for the highest CBC count of Barn Swallows in North America that
> year!!
> Cliff Swallows have also been seen into December in a couple of
> years, but do not stay late nearly as often as Barn Swallows, and the
> departure dates are in September most years.
> This picture may have changed slightly in the last few years (I
> don't have complete data since 1993), but I am quite sure that no Barn
> Swallow has ever overwintered successfully around Vancouver, The
> earliest-ever spring arrivals are in the last few days of March, and
> early April is more usual.
> The only swallow I know of which HAS overwintered successfully in
> B.C. was a Violet-green Swallow at Swan Lake, Victoria, in 1982-83 (in
> an El Nino winter, as pointed out by Jack). It was tallied on the
> Victoria Christmas Bird Count on Dec. 18, 1982, and seen several more
> times in December, January, and February, through to the normal
> February arrival date of Violet-greens.
>
> Wayne C. Weber
> 114-525 Dalgleish Drive
> Kamloops, B.C. V2C 6E4
> Phone: (250) 377-8865
> wayne_weber at bc.sympatico.ca
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jack Bowling <jbowling at direct.ca>
> To: tweeters at u.washington.edu <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Date: Monday, November 29, 1999 7:41 PM
> Subject: Re: late swallows (was two weekend report...)
>
>
> >** Maureen E. wrote -
> >
> >> Sat, Nov 27, while surveying near the public boat launch at the Des
> >> Moines, WA, Marina, a single, weakly-flying SWALLOW crossed the
> north
> >> parking lot and up into the trees above the marina condominiums.
> Its
> >> generally all dark color (back-lit, but definitely not a white
> underside),
> >> small size, shape, and longish tail (could not see the forks, but
> looked
> >> matted) suggest a BARN SWALLOW. This is an extremely late date for
> this
> >> species, or any swallow species. The only other species it could
> have
> >> been is Cliff Swallow, even more unlikely! I am listing it as a
> Barn
> >> Swallow.
> >
> >Hi, Maureen. There have been two occasions during the past ten years
> when Barn
> >Swallows overwintered in the Lower Mainland of B.C. , mostly in El
> Nino winters.
> >Cliff Swallows sometimes hang on until mid-November in B.C., too.
> >
> >Jack Bowling
> >Prince George, BC
> >mailto: jbowling at direct.ca
> >
>
>