After work this evening I stopped again at Silver Mine Lake in Harriman State Park. The first time I visited the lake, prior to my post from last weekend, I had over 160 swallows on the wires at the boat launch. But, it was absolutely pouring rain and I was unable to document what I felt, in spite of the poor lighting conditions, was mostly CLIFF SWALLOWS. Linda Scrima went yesterday and had a similar experience – loads of swallows on the wires in terrible rainy conditions. I stopped after work but unfortunately there were not that many swallow present and I counted only 38 CLSWs. But tonight, I went back…
… and it was a different story. When I arrived there were many swallows present. I immediately counted 51 Cliff Swallows on the wires in the parking area. Then I went down to the boat launch and my best count in one sweep was a remarkable 172 Cliff Swallows! That was counting only the birds I felt confident about; I left many birds unidentified. Also present were approximately a dozen Barn Swallows, several each of Tree Swallows and Bank Swallows, and a single Northern Rough-winged Swallow. I digiscoped some video through my scope in an effort to try and document; it’s long (over 5 minutes) and poorly shot, but if interested, you can link to that video on Youtube here. I also took many pics; I’ve included several here. By the way, I went to the lake twice this week, during the week, and did not have to pay to park.
Fantastic, Matt! Persistence pays.
Thanks Liza. I was thinking about your comment – I can be persistent, especially if a bird captures my imagination for some reason. Also, it being summer and not much else is going on so that made it an easy choice to keep heading back. Thanks for checking in. Matt