Subject: [Tweeters] Bank Swallows in Cowlitz and Wahkiakum Counties
Date: Jul 24 13:18:37 2008
From: Rachel - RachelWL at msn.com



Doug and Tweets,

Interesting. In August of 2005, while crossing the Columbia River on
the small ferry at Cathlamet in Wahkiakum County, I saw Bank Swallows at
a colony in a big dirt pile on the riverbank. It seems like there may
be more Bank Swallows nesting in Western Washington than is usually
thought. I e-mailed Ken Knittle to ask him if he knew about this
colony, because this is his home area and he is so knowledgeable about
county distributions, but I didn't hear back, and I never followed up
further.

Rachel Lawson
Seattle
<RachelWL at msn.com>


-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Douglas
Canning
Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2008 10:42 AM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Bank Swallow Question, Cowlitz Co.


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

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


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