Date: Mon, 2 Dec 2002 07:11:18 -0800 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Arlene Ripley Subject: Re: weekend birding Comments: To: fpierce@AVIALANTIC.COM In-Reply-To: <000001c29a02$ee2ace30$0e72b780@gsfc.nasa.gov> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Hi Fred, I've observed the fall Tree Swallow phenomenon a few times and also find it a moving experience. The swallows can eat wax myrtle berries at this time of year, so don't have to be dependent on insects. When I observed this, it finally became clear to me just how they can survive their migration when insects are few to none. Arlene Ripley Calvert County, MD aripley@nestbox.com http://www.nestbox.com At 05:01 AM 12/2/02, Fred Pierce wrote: >I had the pleasure of being in the midst of about 1,000 Tree Swallows >at Assateague a few weeks ago. I was on the overlook platform on the >Marsh Trail and had been observing the flock from a distance and they >drifted my way, ending up above, below, and on all sides. It was quite >windy and so they were nearly hovering. Quite an ethereal experience. > >Can't help wondering how they find enough to eat to sustain all that >energy - I sure didn't see many insects. Do they have a stash of >Powerbars somewhere? > >fdp ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================