[SBB] Cliff Swallows and Friends

Hello SBBers,

Today, 17 February 2006, at about 2 p.m. we passed the Gilroy/San Martin Water Reclamation Ponds on Church Avenue and discovered 30-40 swallows feeding over the water. We could definitely determine that there were at least 15 TREE SWALLOWS and at least 15 VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS. There was at least one CLIFF SWALLOW, since when viewed at close range we could make out the orange and blue on his head and face; and his short tail. There could have possibly been more Cliffs, but so much time elapsed between sightings that it was impossible to determine if we were seeing just a single bird or several.

This is slightly ahead of schedule for us to be getting Cliff Swallows in the Gilroy area. We would normally expect the Cliffs to come in at San Luis Reservoir and in very south Gilroy area on Hwy 152 on about 20 February. I can only imagine that bad weather on the coast may have driven them inland. This happens occasionally in the Spring and in the Fall. We were just over the hill to Santa Cruz this evening and it feels even colder there than it does in Gilroy/San Martin so the birds are possibly feeling what we're feeling. Luckily, there seem to be plenty of bugs in the area to satisfy their appetites.

Linda Adams in San Martin