Wayne:

I neglected to mention that in addition to nesting season and fall migrant
birds, there are also a small number of birds that show up as spring
migrants (May) in the lowlands of w. Skagit County. In addition to the
Skagit County nesting-season birds, Bill Tweit recently reported birds from
(?) the Green River drainage, and if I'm not mistaken there was also a
recent report from the Cowlitz River drainage (Bill and other observers, if
you're here, please provide corrections/details). Still, west of the
Cascades in Washington, Skagit County seems to have the best-known and
widest-ranging population.

SA


>From: "Wayne C. Weber" <contopus at telus.net>
>To: "SCOTT ATKINSON" <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
>CC: "TWEETERS" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>,"GARY BLETSCH"
><garybletsch at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: Skagit County Birding-- Martins, Bank Swallows, etc.
>Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2003 09:13:49 -0700
>
>Scott,
>
>Thanks very much for your response. I was aware that Bank Swallows had
>been seen regularly over the years at the Corkindale powerline
>crossing; in fact, I have looked for them there in the past without
>success. However, with the number of birds present near Concrete
>yesterday, I would be surprised if they aren't nesting, or attempting
>to nest, somewhere nearby.
>
>Around Vancouver, BC, we have a very few June records of Bank
>Swallows, and one record of a bird entering a burrow on Sea Island
>several years ago, but no positive recent breeding records. Campbell
>et al. in "The Birds of B.C.", Vol. 3 (1997) report two breeding
>records from the Lower Fraser Valley in B.C., but these are poorly
>documented (e.g., no observers' names provided) and, in my opinion,
>somewhat questionable. Otherwise, Bank Swallows have not been proven
>to breed west of the Coast and Cascade Ranges in B.C., and they are
>known at Vancouver mainly as an uncommon to rare spring and fall
>migrant (most records for May and September).
>
>Wayne C. Weber
>Delta, BC
>contopus at telus.net
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Scott Atkinson <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
>To: <contopus at telus.net>; <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
>Cc: <garybletsch at yahoo.com>; <lynnandstan at earthlink.net>
>Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2003 8:21 AM
>Subject: Re: Skagit County Birding-- Martins, Bank Swallows, etc.
>
>
>Wayne:
>
>Your count of 25 Bank Swallows sets a new high for any site in Skagit.
>Also, Concrete has not been the main site of observations in years
>past,
>although there have been previous sightings near here. However, up to
>a
>dozen birds at a time have been seen in recent years during nesting
>season
> near the Corkindale powerline crossing to the east (between Rockport
>and
>Marblemount) and birds have been seen in a number of locations near
> Rockport, such as a the Howard Miller Steelhead Park there. I don't
>believe
>anyone has yet reported a nest despite this, but I did see birds going
>into
>a barn (atypical nest site) off the south side of the Corkindale site
>several years ago and it is clear to me that birds somewhere in the
>vicinity. In addition to the central county records, single birds or
>small
>flocks (highs are 4 and 10) have been documented in recent years on
>Fir
>Island in Aug-Sept, but I had also had a bird that stayed for several
>days
> in early July last year at Jensen.
>
>Scott Atkinson
>Lake Stevens
>mail to: scottratkinson at hotmail.com
>
>
>

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