[obol] Re: A day to swallow
- From: Alan Contreras <acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: BILL ROSIE TICE <watice@xxxxxxx>, OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 14:28:27 -0700
In the Midwest I often saw flocks of scores of martins hanging up in
migration when weather was bad.
--
Alan Contreras
Eugene, Oregon
acontrer56@xxxxxxxxx
I blog at: oregonreview.blogspot.com
From: BILL ROSIE TICE <watice@xxxxxxx>
Reply-To: BILL ROSIE TICE <watice@xxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 21:24:31 +0000
To: OBOL <obol@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [obol] A day to swallow
Hi Folks,
After running an errand in Dallas, I headed over to BSNWR to see what the
wind blew in. I soon saw a Rough-winged Swallow. After about a half hour I
ran into Chris Adlam, and we soon added a purple martin, as well as a black
tern carrying a small fish. Tree, VG, Barn and Cliff Swallows were all
there as well, and as I had 6/7 of Oregon's swallows, I thought I'd watch
for a while to see if the Bank Swallow was still around from last Sunday.
It began raining harder, so I headed over to Morgan Lake. At the low part
of Smithfield Rd I saw what I assumed was a flock of blackbirds sitting in
the road, but something did not look quite right, but I pretty much ignored
that suspicion until I was right upon them, and then could see they were
Purple Martins. There were some 20 or so sitting on the road, 10 or so on
the power lines, and more sitting on the bee hives, and a few flying around.
It was difficult to get a count, but the first atttempt yeilded 36, and the
second 37. They were still there when I returned from Morgan Lake a half
hour later, and I counted at least 40 two times.
To me this was a really cool spectacle. In migration I have never seen more
than one solitary bird. I assumed they did not migrate in flocks as well.
This sighting more or less changes my knowledge of them.
Has anyone ever seen similar away from nesting colonies during spring
migration?
Bill Tice: Birding - The best excuse for getting outdoors, and avoiding
chores.
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