Tweeters,

The actual mud and moss nest of a Black Swift has never been seen in
our state. But field researchers are finding lots of them in Colorado.
What's the difference? Most of the waterfalls in the Rockies that the
birds are associating with are composed of layered sedimentary rocks
that can have lots of nice horizontal shelves for nest building. Most
of the Cascade mountains are composed of non layered igneous (perhaps
metamorphic) granite like rocks. Here a nest usually is going to have
to be in some crack where no one can see it.

There are two waterfalls in Northern Idaho where nests have been
located. It's considered significant that these two waterfalls and the
Idaho locations where Black Swifts have been observed flying are of a
particular ancient sedimentary rock formation called the Precambrian
Belt Super group.

This formation is the western continental shelf of the original North
American continent that got scooped up when North America first started
grinding its way westward.

This Precambrian Belt Supergroup also exists in NE Washington. Here is
a link to the map I've been studying.
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/geology/pagemap.htm

So if one were to goe to the Seattle Public Library and spend six hour
examining all of the NE Washington USGS Topo maps for waterfalls in
Precambrian Belt Supergroup areas, you might come up with a match and
then drive, hike and/or crash through brush to get to that waterfall
and be rewarded with the sight of Black Swifts hanging out on eggs.

I put together a list of 15 prospective waterfalls and hit the road
very early Friday and ended up checking out 12 in three days. Only one
was of the desired rock type. Unfortunately Sweet Creek Falls south of
Metaline is more of a water-slide than a waterfall and appears
swift-less. The real adventure and hot spot was six miles north at a
place marked "falls" on the topo map. I hiked down the mining road to
where it should be and couldn't see it. But you could hear it, and
found the commitment to climb down the severe slope to the very base of
this beauty. Flume Creek Falls drops about 110 feet, mostly in two
drops, inside an undercut overhanging slot. It also has the bonus
feature of water shooting out a crack to the east, which forms its own
little spectacle. It's got to be one of the most spectacular
waterfalls in Eastern Washington and is all but unknown. It's also the
most Black Swift friendly site I've ever evaluated. I spent an hour
checking out every crack and shelf from different angles for nests and
birds. There were lots, and they were empty. But how about that one
green clump high up on the cliff face in the spray zone. It's the only
spot in the slot that has a touch of white. I took some point and
shoot photos which I'll send to Rich Levad who headed up the swift hunt
in Colorado. If there are nesting Black Swifts in NE Washington this
is a spot they would find hard to resist.

I spent a lot of time with my eyes on the sky and saw gobs of swallows
and a few White-throated Swifts, but no Black ones.

Has anyone in Tweeterdom observed a Black Swift east of the Columbia
River?

Saw a moose. Heard a bear.

Larry Schwitters
Issaquah