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
>
>
>
