These are the wintering Tree Swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, putting on extra fuel for the long trek north. In a few days, they will leave the balmy Florida gulf coast and head back home to raise families in the Northern US and Southern Canada. Their streamlined form enables them to fly graciously, and make seemingly impossible 90 degree turns at full speed…. a turn that would cause the most experienced air force pilot to black out from the G forces.
But the most amazing display will occur just after sunset. So I grab my camera and head to a nearby large vacant plot of land, where the swallows are reported to nest for the night. The plot contains a few large lakes and mainly low shrubs and reeds. I arrive at dusk, and for about 10 minutes, the swallows appear in loose flocks, flying low, all heading in one direction. Then, as if by signal, they’re gone! I can’t see a one. I was ready to go home, feeling a little disappointed in their performance. One last look skyward suddenly revealed hundreds of thousands of swallows, barely visible, at a high altitude. (Local Audubon Society estimates there are 600,000 to 1,000,000 in our flock!)
As I watched, they concentrated and descended in mass, flying together in a huge wavering cloud. The cloud came lower and took the shape of a huge tornado funnel. The lower end of the vortex extended to the ground, where the swallows were alighting on branches for the night.
After five minutes the show was over.
I returned 3 days later, on February 23, but the swallows were gone, left for home. Tragically, I read today in the paper that that plot of land has just been approved for 1600 homes and condos. Where will the swallows go??
