Dear Wayne and Tweeters,

Interestingly enough, I went up to the exact same spot on June 23, on the Concrete-Sauk-Valley Road, and saw about five Bank Swallows there. I had looked for them there in years past, but I don't think I ever confirmed them--as always, with Roughwings present, they were tricky to ID. I used to see a few Bank Swallows along the Sauk River, up by Sauk Prairie Road. Then people noticed them in Corkindale, and I stopped going all that way up the Sauk to search for them.

Today, Bob Kuntz and I saw four or five Bank Swallows in Corkindale.

This spring, I saw more Bank Swallows in Skagit than ever before, at least in terms of locations. There were singles twice at Van Horn (east of Concrete) and also on Cockreham Island.

I have never seen their nests in Skagit, nor looked for them here. They are not shown as breeding in Skagit County (or anywhere else in NW WA either) in Breeding Birds of Washington State. The first time I saw the birds in Skagit County was in June of 1994, at Sauk Prairie Road. I think Keith and Jan Wiggers had first found them there that year, or perhaps a year or two before. I think maybe that location became known too late to be included in the atlas as a "possible" or "probable" breeding site. For all I know, others may have found nests there.

I think they are getting more common around here, or else more people are better able to ID them. I also think, though, that Tree Swallows are sometimes bent into shape to serve as ersatz Bank Swallows...



Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch

near Lyman (Skagit County), Washington

garybletsch at yahoo.com


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