Sand martins?

 

 

We were at Fort Ross on Friday afternoon (14 July 2023), when I noticed some large swallows swooping around over the beach and sometimes landing on the sand. 

 

 

 

This was a small flock of Purple Martins (Progne subis).  I don't encounter this species that often along the southern portions of the Sonoma Coast, and I hadn't seen them landing on the beach before, so I stopped briefly to see what they were up to.  It looked like they were picking up sand from the beach, perhaps to use as grit to help grind up their insect prey?

 

They were distant and they weren't stopping for long, so I didn't end up with great photos, but here are a couple of adult males with their deep indigo-violet color:

 

 

 

 

 

The flock tended to stay together (not sure if it could have been a family group?).  I counted 7-8 individuals.  Here are six in one photo:

 

 

 

P.S.  I called this post "Sand martins" because that's what came to mind while watching Purple Martins land on the sand.  But "Sand Martin" is an alternative name for Bank Swallows (which often nest in sandy bluffs).

 

Back in town

  

Lots of swallows returning recently.  While eating lunch today (16 March 2023) I heard a Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) and turned around to see it sitting on the volleyball net.

Rooms with a view

  

After field work this morning, I was hearing some Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) calling and was wondering where the swallows were.  In trying to locate the birds, I was puzzled at first the my ears were leading me to an offshore sea stack.  But then a few birds appeared and swooped up into a groove in the rock!  I'm probably not in the right places often enough to see this, but I couldn't recall observing them nesting on a sea stack before.  Looking more closely, I eventually found a few nests.

Above is a view of the sea stack.  The nests are in two locations — next to the jagged notch (cut-out) at the upper right corner of the rock, and along the dark groove that curves down vertically at the lower right corner of the rock.  Below is a closer view where you can look for the rounded mud nests attached to the rock:

 

 

 

If you couldn't see the nests in the photo above, here are two even closer views.  The first shows the upper notch (with a bird looking out from the opening), and the second with a few nests at the top of the curved groove:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that's a room with an ocean view!

Following the contours

  

This morning I was watching some Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) feeding on insects along a rocky intertidal surge channel when I noticed that a few of them were landing on the rocks along the sides of the channel.  There was a mix of adults and juveniles.  Here are two different juveniles.

 

 

It was interesting to watch the swallows using the contours of the intertidal zone to access concentrations of insects!

Not so happy

 

While out for a short walk in the late afternoon, I heard some commotion and looked up to see this Cooper's Hawk (Accipiter cooperii) landing on a wire.  

Then I realized what all the fuss was about — some of the other birds weren't so happy about this hawk being nearby:

 

After avoiding many swooping dives from a small group of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica), this young hawk eventually took off and headed east.

 

On the lake

I spent a lot of the weekend watching my niece row in the Youth National Championships in Gold River, CA.  Not much time for nature photography, but I took a quick picture of a Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) swooping along the surface of Lake Natoma:

 

For a slightly better view of a Cliff Swallow, here's an older picture of a nesting colony near Cape Mendocino last year:

 

  

P.S.  Way to go, Deerfield Crew!

P.P.S.  Before the races started, there was a wonderful view of a Bald Eagle catching a fish at one end of the lake.  It was a little too distant for my lens, but you can still see the size of the fish (Is that a Rainbow Trout?):

 

The mob

I walked across the parking lot at work this morning to see a lot of commotion in the distance.  Can you tell what was going on?

 

A Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) was being mobbed by Brewer's Blackbirds (Euphagus cyanocephalus), a Common Raven (Corvus corvax), and at least one Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica).

Eventually the owl had enough and it flew off with all of the other birds "in tow" until it found shelter in a tree.

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

We just returned from a trip to New England to visit with family...so I'm wondering, what did I miss while I was away?

Looking at the ocean temperatures that recently dipped to ~11°C (~52°F), I'm guessing there were some strong winds during the past week?

Following up on an earlier post — on 2 October 2017 I posted some photos of a large flock of Tree Swallows in Massachusetts.  If you read that post and wondered how many birds were in the last photo, I decided to count them tonight.  Here's the photo again:

 

Earlier I had done a rough count (by 10s) and estimated that there were somewhere between 300-400 swallows in the photo above.  Tonight I carefully counted every individual I could see and came up with...398.  This was just a small portion of the entire flock.

And back in California, here are a couple of photos from Cotati that I hadn't had a chance to share yet:

 

This bee was visiting a sunflower in our yard on 2 September 2017.  As you might remember, I'm slowly learning about our local bee species.  I knew that I hadn't photographed this species before.  The yellow "underbelly" really stood out.  Because I wasn't sure which species it was, I did a quick Internet search for something like "bee with yellow under the abdomen" and was quickly pointed to leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.).

Unlike many other bees that carry pollen on their legs, leafcutter bees are known for carrying pollen on the underside of the abdomen:

 

P.S.  Fun fact: The genus, Megachile, means "large lipped."  It refers to the large mandibles in this group of bees that are used for cutting pieces of leaves or petals to bring back to their nests.

A blizzard of swallows

While visiting my mother yesterday in Humarock, Massachusetts, there was a very large flock of Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) circling over her house.

Tree Swallows gather in large flocks before migrating south to sites in the southern United States, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America.  Along the New England coast, they can often be seen eating the waxy fruit of Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica). 

It's hard to show the scale of these Tree Swallow flocks — many hundreds of birds swirling overhead.  At one point, with their white bellies glowing against the blue October sky, they looked like a blizzard of white snowflakes! 

Here's a fun series — click on the images for larger versions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who wants to count the number of birds in the last photo (above)?  :)

Peering out

 

A pair of Cliff Swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) in their nest near Cape Mendocino on 25 May 2017.

 

Along the tideline

I had fun watching some Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) feeding along the tideline tonight.  I didn't end up with the picture I hoped for — it was probably a little too dark, and I was probably a little too slow.  But it was still fun, so I'll share some of my attempts:

 

 

 

 

 

Trying to photograph these swallows was harder than trying to keep up with storm-petrels!  I'll have to try again another day.

Feeding time

 

Well, it's not my best Northern Rough-winged Swallow picture, but it's one of the few times I've photographed them bringing food to a nest (with nestlings).  Although it's hard to tell, this adult is carrying insects in its bill. 

This photograph is from 15 July 2016.  This appears to be a relatively late date for Northern Rough-winged Swallows to be feeding young in this region.  (Perhaps their first brood failed, so they're trying a second time?)

Three years ago, I photographed fledglings much earlier — see the post from 21 June 2013.

And to see some nice photographs of adult Northern Rough-winged Swallows, review the post from 2 May 2013.

Soon

 

Juvenile Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) on 6 June 2015, soon to leave their nest outside of Andy's Market in Sebastopol.

  

A bite to eat

Just a few quick photos of a bird that caught my attention in Occidental today:

 

I heard some soft begging calls, and when I looked up to locate the source, I saw this Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) landing at a nest.

In the picture above, note the orange or rust-colored rump.  Below, look for the pale forehead and the dark, cinnamon- or chestnut-colored throat and side of the face.

 

When the adult left the nest, the reason for its visit was clear:

 

There were at least two young swallows visible near the opening to the nest.  The adult was likely bringing food to those large, gaping mouths.

The nestlings withdrew, but then I noticed movement to the right:

 

An older nestling was visible in a second nest adjacent to the first one.

We weren't the only ones looking for a bite to eat in Occidental today!

 

Mouthfuls of mud

 

Eric and I watched a couple of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) gathering mud in a parking lot in Bodega Bay this morning. 

I've always been fascinated by this behavior, in part because it's hard to imagine having a mouthful of mud.

Barn Swallows use mud to build their nests.  Here's a picture of a male with both mud and grass (below).  He flew in with the grass and then started gathering mud.  Note his rust-colored forehead and underparts, and elongate tail feathers.  (The females typically have paler foreheads and underparts, and shorter tails.)

 

Although it's a little hard to tell, this may be a female that flew in and landed behind the male (see next image). Look for the more cream-colored underparts.

Here are a few quick trivia questions about Barn Swallow nest-building.  The answers are below the next image.

- How many trips per hour do Barn Swallows make while gathering materials for their nests?

- How many mud pellets make up one Barn Swallow nest?

  

Barn Swallows average about 30 trips/hour while gathering nest materials.  It's a busy time!

A Barn Swallow nest may contain between 750-1400 individual mud pellets.  Now that's a lot of mouthfuls of mud!

[Facts above from the Birds of North America account by Brown and Brown (1999).]

Sunbathing

Driving home from work tonight, Eric spotted a large flock of birds perched on a few wires overhanging a field along Jonive Road.  We were late (and hungry), but turned around to get a better view.

Here's what the entire flock looked like from the road.  Because the birds are relatively small, it's probably hard to count.  If you'd like to try, remember that you can click on the picture to view a slightly larger version.  I'll reveal the actual count below the image.

 

There are 50 (exactly 50!) birds perched on the wires.  From top to bottom: 2 on the top wire, then 10, 27, and 11.

The next image will help identify the species:

 

This was a large flock of Violet-green Swallows (Tachycineta thalassina).  Here's an even closer view:

 

The Birds of North America account says that not much is known about migratory behavior in Violet-green Swallows, but mentions that there is "some flocking prior to migration."  The timing seems right for this to be a pre-migratory flock.  (Although some Violet-green Swallows overwinter in California, most will spend the winter somewhere between Mexico and Guatemala/El Salvador/Honduras.)

I wish I had an even closer view of this beautiful swallow, but there was a fence in my way.  This is the best I could do for now.

 

Many of these swallows were actively preening, but when I was reviewing the pictures, it seemed as though some of them were just basking or taking in the last rays of the setting sun (eyes closed, facing west).  

I checked the behavior section of the Birds of North America account and found this — "Reported sunbathing in large numbers on telephone wires (Bent 1942)."  I love when there's a direct match between a current observation and a description in Bent's Life Histories of North American Birds!

Washed with cinnamon

Remember the Northern Rough-winged Swallows I wrote about last month?  The adults successfully raised a large brood, because tonight we encountered a flock of six fledglings roosting nearby.  They must have just left the nest.

Below are views of four of the six.  Note the pinkish coloration at the gape, or base of the bill.

 

The very pretty rufous coloration was striking in the right light.  The Birds of North America account describes the juvenile plumage as being "washed with cinnamon" — a good description!

 

The next individual was sleeping in the warm summer sun, its head turned and tucked deep within its back feathers.

 

If you'd like to compare these juveniles with their parents, click here to see the post from 2 May 2013.