Dear Kristi and Tweeters,

We had an oddball swallow encounter in late December on the Padilla Bay Christmas Bird Count. At Thousand Trails Campground near LaConner, on a very chilly, blustery afternoon, we just about stepped on a dead, frozen Barn Swallow. The bird was an adult, lying on the concrete of a covered patio. I suspect that the high winds had dislodged the already dead swallow from a nest site in the patio roof. At the time, it just seemed so outlandish to see a swallow--there couldn't have been a living insect flying anywhere within miles of that spot!

Yours truly,

Gary Bletsch ? Near Lyman, Washington (Skagit County), USA ? garybletsch at yahoo.com ? ?


--- Kristi Hein <khc at picturesandwords.com> schrieb am Di, 3.2.2009:

> Von: Kristi Hein <khc at picturesandwords.com>
> Betreff: [Tweeters] VG Swallows: Remains of an abandoned nest
> An: "Tweeters List" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Datum: Dienstag, 3. Februar 2009, 0:06
> With a wisp of spring in the air, I finally got around to
> the annual task of taking down the swallow nest box and
> scrubbing it out for their return. A sad task, because
> inside I found four dead chicks, fully feathered. Nesting
> began so late last year, we first observed chicks at the
> entrance about the time they would normally fledge. Eleven
> days later, I found one fledgling on the ground nearby, and
> later I observed one fledgling successfully perched on the
> roof, while another chick hesitated to leave the box. I
> don't know whether it left, or is one of the four that
> succumbed, but that totals at least six chicks.
>
> I recall other Tweeters discussions about parent swallows
> abandoning nest boxes in that very late spring. Ours never
> mustered the usual excited swirl of encouragement that
> coaxes the chicks out; I think they'd been gone several
> days already when the two fledgings happened. Conjecture was
> that they were worn out, and/or not able to find the right
> insects to feed their broods.
>
> On the remote chance that anyone wants the abandoned nest
> and remains for study (they are pretty well mummified and
> odorless), I've kept it in a plastic bag secured outside
> in the shady cold. If I don't hear from anyone, I'll
> return it to the earth in the tall grass of our alley.
>
> Hope the swallows have a better time of it this year.
>
> Kristi Hein
> Anacortes
>
> khc
> at
> picturesandwords.com
>
>
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