There are some really big flocks of Barn Swallows moving through the
mid-Willamette Valley right now.
Yesterday afternoon I drove home from Corvallis by way of the
Corvallis-Independence Rd, and then cut over on Camp Adair Rd. The swallows
over the fields on that last stretch, just east of E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area,
were truly uncountable. Somewhere upward of 2000 but maybe as many as 5000, all
feeding low to the ground.
This morning on my way back from a Vesper Sparrow monitoring site near Airlie
(which does still have some lingering Vesper Sparrows), I ran into another big
flock of at least 500 Barn Swallows foraging low over the fields along De
Armond Road.
It's a phenomenal experience to come across one of these big migrant flocks.
Not as big as the numbers that are sometimes reported from migrant roosting
sites up in Yamhill County, but still spectacular!
--
Joel Geier
Camp Adair area north of Corvalllis
