Re: Swallow movements....   

I find it interesting that many observers have noted large numbers of swallows moving through the region the past couple of days (certainly not unexpected in early March) but there is clearly variation in the species mix.  I get the impression that Cliff Swallows have been the dominant species over the coastal basins, and most reports from the Lancaster area in the Antelope Valley indicate that Tree Swallows were the most abundant species, followed by Cliff Swallow.  Today in Juniper Hills (1000' above the floor of the Antelope Valley, on the north slope of the San Gabriel Mtns.) there was a constant trickle of swallows (about 80 total), but except for a single Cliff Swallow, they were ALL Violet-green Swallows.  I suspect that Violet-greens, being woodland and montane breeders, may take a slightly different route in spring migration, sticking closer to the mountains and being relatively less common over the flat desert areas.  Just curious if anybody else has noted such a pattern.

Kimball Garrett

Juniper Hills, CA

On Wed, Mar 8, 2023 at 4:58 PM tgmiko@... <tgmiko@...> wrote:

Hi,

I am walking from the Claremont Metrolink Station to my house and there is a steady, non-stop stream of swallows flying westbound. Last night the same thing happened when I stood outside searching the skies in vain for Swainson's Hawks. As the sun was going down the swallows were flying lower and lower over my house. I had about 120 last night (multiple species).

Thomas Geza Miko
Claremont, LA County
909.241.3300
"With a sufficiently large sample size a correlation can at once be both very significant and too small worth discussing."--Daniel Kahneman