The issue of swallow ID has been understated for decades as far as books and articles go. Sure, gulls, shorebirds, seabirds are traditionally among the tougher families for US birders. Well Empids, sparrows, fall warblers, etc etc as well.
USA swallows are highly mobile and visible species, more limited in diversity than the above listed groups, and limited enough that swallow ID should not be a huge issue. But it is.
As an "experienced" birder, until the day by a lakeside in north Texas, in peak swallow migration, that I realized that swallows were not as easy peasy as I always thought. Peak swallow-migration time, standing at the shore of a large reservoir near Dallas, with hundreds of swallows of various species, and less than ideal lighting from the birder's vantage point. Surely swallow ID is easy, but when you have hundreds/thousands of birds zipping and darting and swooping around in front of you, it is QUITE difficult to ID bird-by-bird what you're looking at. When you're in an area where every swallow (besides Violet-green, in this Texas example) is perfectly expected and usual, it is quite hard to gauge a ratio of which species to species mix you're looking at in a migratory flock over a lake in poor viewing conditions. And swallows love to congregate and feed over lakes.
Thank you Joe Roller for the swallow-ID post. It is not an easy task to come across giant mixed migrating flocks of swallows and determine how many of each species you're looking at, or even rough ratios. More work should be done on this front.
Good birding,
Derek Hill
Fort Collins
-- USA swallows are highly mobile and visible species, more limited in diversity than the above listed groups, and limited enough that swallow ID should not be a huge issue. But it is.
As an "experienced" birder, until the day by a lakeside in north Texas, in peak swallow migration, that I realized that swallows were not as easy peasy as I always thought. Peak swallow-migration time, standing at the shore of a large reservoir near Dallas, with hundreds of swallows of various species, and less than ideal lighting from the birder's vantage point. Surely swallow ID is easy, but when you have hundreds/thousands of birds zipping and darting and swooping around in front of you, it is QUITE difficult to ID bird-by-bird what you're looking at. When you're in an area where every swallow (besides Violet-green, in this Texas example) is perfectly expected and usual, it is quite hard to gauge a ratio of which species to species mix you're looking at in a migratory flock over a lake in poor viewing conditions. And swallows love to congregate and feed over lakes.
Thank you Joe Roller for the swallow-ID post. It is not an easy task to come across giant mixed migrating flocks of swallows and determine how many of each species you're looking at, or even rough ratios. More work should be done on this front.
Good birding,
Derek Hill
Fort Collins
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