I have been camping at several places in western Washington and heard Violet-green Swallows calling from overhead what seemed to be all night long. Also heard Purple Martins doing the same thing one night on San Juan Island. I have no idea what?s going on with this. I could find no information in Bird of North America about nocturnal foraging or flying in Violet-greens. Although the account mentions that calls have been heard during the night, it doesn?t say whether from a perch or in flight.

The Purple Martin account says only this: Dawn Song. Given in predawn hours by males that range widely around nest sites; distinct from Croak Song used during daylight hours (Morton 1985). Believed to attract other martins to nest site, enhancing colony formation (Morton 1988a, Morton et al. 1990). So that?s probably what I heard, but I recall it as being long before dawn. Violet-greens are somewhat colonial, so perhaps the same thing is going on with them. I wonder about other swallows. Here?s a summer project: camp out at a swallow colony! (It?s also possible that when I heard swallows singing at 3 am, I thought it was all night long).

Jeff, I loved your tale of crabbing on the beach. We have found surprisingly many species of crabs in our annual low-tide beach visits around Seattle.

Dennis
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Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net


On Jun 9, 2014, at 12:01 PM, tweeters-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Message: 16
> Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2014 18:25:59 +0000
> From: "FLECKENSTEIN, JOHN (DNR)" <JOHN.FLECKENSTEIN at dnr.wa.gov>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Swallow eyes
> To: "tweeters at u.washington.edu" <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID:
> <093093B309DD1948AC405EF06FAA5F38A5F9F3 at WAXMXOLYMB023.WAX.wa.lcl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> Friends,
> I've only heard swallows a few times at that hour - even though I've got them in a nest box attached to the house. Could be hearing loss. But I've wondered if it was a territorial display. When I've heard them, they've been very vocal, much more so than during usual feeding activity. And they've been flying in a relatively small area.
>
> John Fleckenstein
> Olympia
>
> Message: 11
> Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2014 08:39:14 -0700
> From: Jeff Gibson <gibsondesign at msn.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] Swallow Eyes
> To: tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID: <BLU178-W35207858B00F57C58C1277C92E0 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> While married to a night owl, I tend to be a morning person. Sometimes occupations (like being a bar owner) have interfered with that at times, but these days in Port Townsend, I've been getting up early, and also sleeping with the window open.
> Way back when, I used to do things like get up before dawn and note the order in which the birds started singing in the morning. I haven't done much of that in the past few years, but did remember noting in my journal, on a number of occasions, that the first bird call of the day was often the Violet-green Swallow. They are still at it, I'm happy to say - starting about 3:30 am right now here in Port Townsend, just before the Robins get started.
> Oh I can hear them alright, circling above, but it's too dark to see 'em - the stars are still out ("who let the stars out!").
> And that got me wondering about what the heck they are doing out there flying in the dark. Stargazing? Social time? Having sex? I don't know, but I imagine they are after bugs already, but if so, how can they see them? I'm amazed at swallows and swifts nabbing tiny tiny bugs, at speed, even in the daytime. That takes some sharp eyes, not to mention reflexes. Incredible really.
> And then there's those diving eyes of grebes and ducks etc. How, on a winter day under a 20,000 ft blanket of clouds, and diving into estuary murk, can a cormorant see a fish down there? I don't know, but they catch 'em somehow. I've seen the evidence. Jeff Gibsonjust kind of wondering, inPort Townsend Wa