Dear Ontbirders: As you probably know, swallow species are showing marked decline in Ontario and across Northeastern North America. The cause of the decline is unknown. Work is underway to determine what research is required to determine why the declines are happening. You'll undoubtedly hear more about this over the next couple of years. In the meantime, we're interested in collecting some preliminary information on pre-migration and migrating flocks in Ontario. We're trying to get a general picture of where large flocks occur and work towards knowing why they might be in those locations. If you see or have seen a flock of over 100 swallows, please send me the following information: - Location: UTM or Lat.long, if possible, or a written description to allow us to work out the location accurate to within about 100m; - Number of swallows: approximate total and as much info as possible on number of each species; - Date and time of day; - What the birds were perching on: wires, trees, etc. - A general description of the surrounding habitat. Just general information - are the birds in farmland, marsh, forest, etc. - Any additional information you wish to add on why the birds might be at that location, evidence of roadkills, etc. - Name and contact info for observer(s). If you have any historical information on where large numbers have occurred in the past, or on swallow roosts, I'd appreciate hearing about those, too. Thanks very much, Mike - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mike Cadman Canadian Wildlife Service P.O. Box 5050 867 Lakeshore Road Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 E-mail: mike.cad...@ec.gc.ca
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