Hi all,
For the past two years a pair of bank swallows has nested along with
rough wings in a five foot high sandy bank on the southwest side of the
Green River at Metzler Park SE of Auburn. The easiest way to get to the
area is not by Metzler park, but rather to park at the north end of
188th Ave SE on the Enumclaw plateau near the Wabash Presbyterian church
and walk a mile down a gravel road to the Green River at Ogrady park
(undeveloped).

Saturday afternoon the boys and I stood on the river bank and watched
10-15 bank swallows, by far the most I've seen there, along with an
equal number of rough-wings and somewhat fewer each of barn, cliff,
violet-green and tree swallows, all coursing over the surface of the
river right below where we stood. The bank swallows are distinguished by
the contrast between pale back and darker wings, the contrast between
dark face and whitish side of the neck, the forked tail and of course
the dark breast band, although it is difficult to get a frontal view of
the bird to see the full breast band. Rough-wings are larger, evenly
brown above, tail not clearly forked, and no pattern on face or breast,
just dusky brown.

It will be interesting to see if the additional bank swallows hang
around to establish a colony. I understand they used to be rare in King
County; I don't know if they've become more common in recent years.
Brian Pendleton
Auburn
kc7wpd at peoplepc.com