Subject: [Tweeters] Barn Swallows at Semiahmoo
Date: Sun Jan 7 05:28:33 PST 2018
From: Stephen - schasecredo at gmail.com

Hi Tweeters,
Yesterday at Semiahmoo my family found twelve Barn Swallows! They were quite unmistakable as they zipped around over the road about a third of the way down the spit. We pulled over and watched for a few minutes. They were flying low over the road and on the ocean side of the spit, frequently stopping to rest on a large driftwood log on the beach. I was able to count them easily at one point as they were all lined up on the log. All twelve were in the more muted juvenile plumage: less blue and more brown, with forked tails but without the deeply forked tail of adults. I expected them to take off when I stepped a few feet closer; they didn't. I suppose that suggests these twelve are not quite healthy.

Range maps online show Barn Swallows wintering as far north as northern Mexico. Do they occasionally winter further north along the West Coast? Or did a flock of juveniles lose their bearings on the way south?

A nice little taste of summer though!

Thanks for reading,
Stephen in Everson