Greetings All:
Northern Rough-winged Swallows breed, in small numbers, in the region
wherever appropriate habitat can be found. They seem to prefer, in
our area, riparian corridors and canyon cuts with pre-existing holes
in relatively soft soils. At one point, there was a decent-sized
breeding colony in the bluffs to the east of Lower White Lake at
Muleshoe NWR and in the boy scout campground cliffs at Buffalo Spring
Lake - perhaps Brad's birds are a re-occupation of the latter breeding
site. Most Breeding Bird Surveys I ran through Post had a few
breeding pairs at the caprock buildup just west of town. This year,
there appear to be breedings pairs in the cliffs at Silver Falls Rest
Area and in the canyon cuts associated with CR 3600 and CR 7300 in
Yellowhouse Canyon.
That said, it is always wonderful to come across a mess of them in Summer!
Anthony Hewetson
On Thu, Jun 24, 2021 at 7:35 PM Brad Shine <sonofshine@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Nothing super wild but I was surprised to see at least 10 northern
rough-winged swallows yesterday at Buffalo Springs. I had at least 7 perched
at one time right below the dam on a dead tree in the water.
Also had a raccoon!
Brad Shine