Greetings Tweets -

A friend from Oregon has posed a question on the possibility of Bank
Swallow nesting in Cowlitz County, and which I pass on to y'all for
comment. He writes:

"As I was driving south on I-5 in June, just north of the Toutle River
bridge (north of Castle Rock) I noticed what sure looked like burrows
of a Bank Swallow colony, on the north end of the big pile of Mt. St.
Helens ash that's been there for a few decades now.

"I didn't see any swallows flying around (I was zipping along at 65+
mph) but I wondered if this might be a known location for Bank
Swallows. In Oregon they're rare west of the Cascades, but then we
don't have these big piles of volcanic ash. I'd be interested if
you've heard anything about Bank Swallows there."

Having not been to that locale in many years, I pass on the question.
Some small Bank Swallow colonies are reported in Birds of Washington to
be near Woodland (29 miles south) and Toutle (11 miles west) of Joel's
sighting of a possible nesting colony on the lower Toutle River, so I
expect that his speculation is well-founded. Your thoughts or
sightings?

Thanks,
Doug

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Douglas Canning
Black Lake, Thurston Co., Wash.
dcanning at zhonka.net
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