Just forwarding from OBOL ...

Stefan SchlickHillsboro, OR

Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 16:34:30 -0700
Subject: [obol] Barn Swallows 2014
From: fschrock at gmail.com
To: OBOL at freelists.org; YamhillBirders at yahoogroups.com

Just FYI for those interested in the annual Barn Swallow gathering in Yamhill County... This week it appears to be happening again.
On the evening of Sept. 9 a sizeable flock (I estimated between 20 and 30 thousand) went down into a cornfield about as far east on the Grand Island as it is possible to go. I hesitate to suggest that anyone go looking for it now because it is very difficult to find a good vantage point. I hope (and expect) that the flock will move to a "better" location as the corn harvest proceeds.
But for anyone who does want to take a look now, the roost site on Tuesday was north of the east end of Grand Island Loop Rd., northeast of the Heiser Farm Pumpkin Patch headquarters. If and when the flock moves, please inform the group if you are the one to discover it.
Also it might interest some to know that Bruce Cousins, the Purple Martin researcher on Vancouver Island, BC, has detected on morning weather radar what he suspects could be Swallow flocks somewhere just south of Centralia, WA. Are there cornfields in that area? Perhaps those birds will be joining the Grand Island flock when the weather changes.
Floyd Schrock

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