Subject: Barn Swallow request
Date: Feb 11 14:25:02 2003
From: Scott G. Downes - DownesS at cwu.EDU


Tweets,
I've been following the barn swallow postings with interest. Since this
has happened for at least two years in a row now, I'm curious. For those
that have seen Barns and have an idea on if they were returning adults
or immatures could you email me with numbers, date and an idea of
proportion of age class.
Here's a quote from pyle on immatures just for those that may not know
what to look for:

"Tail usually <68mm, tail notch shallow; upperparts brownish or mixed
steel blue and brownish" Underparts are usually creamy buff, as opposed
to a rusty buff, though occasionally this is in worn birds, so not
totally reliable.

I'm aware that many people may not have been looking for this, but I'm
wondering if the majority of these early returning birds are immatures
and some observation data would help with this. You can post to tweets
as well, just trying to keep the list unclogged from messages.

Thanks much.

Scott downes
downess at cwu.edu
Ellensburg Wa