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Barn Swallow; Other Arrivals; and an owl



On March 25 I began watching for Barn Swallows under the Cape Fear River
bridge in Elizabethtown.  On March 26 (one day earlier than the arrival of
the colony last year) I saw one bird sitting on a nest.  I watched for half
an hour and never saw another bird. I returned later in the day, and did not
see a single bird.   I again checked the bridge on 3/37 and 3/28, but no
birds.  When I returned to Elizabethtown on 4/1, there were hundreds of Barn
Swallows.  I've never seen a solitary Barn Swallow.  Do these birds send
"scouts"?

Yesterday I took a look at a hole in a huge dead tree about a hundred yards
from the bridge.  Last year over a period of weeks I repeatedly saw
Pileateds entering the hole, and eventually saw a couple of perfect
miniature woodpeckers getting fed (I'll also add that I thought the parents
were killing them).  Anyway, yesterday I looked up with the binos, and
there, in the hole, is the cutest Screech Owl I've ever seen.  In fact, the
only one I've seen.

My list of first arrivals along the Cape Fear River at Elizabethtown
include:

Yellow-throated Warbler - March 18
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher - March 18
Northern Parula - March 21
Chimney Swifts - March 31 - high above my Fayetteville home.  Last night I
watched 1000 or more enter the chimney at Ashley School, a few hundred yards
from my home.

Prothonotaries should be here this week.

William J. Warfel
Fayetteville