Swallows of Capistrano Get New Digs

June 07, 2010
Corey
News
3 Comments

The famed swallows of Capistrano, Cliff Swallows that yearly return to the historic church in southern California, have chosen not to build their mud nests at the Mission San Juan Capistrano this year. Instead, they chose a nearby country club. Even among birds, apparently, there is no accounting for taste.

Corey

Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their indoor cat, B.B. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.

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Jeffrey Tufts

June 07, 2010 8:57:23 am

Here’s a classic case of a newswire story that is spread around the internet simply because it is available and sounds interesting. Unfortunately it is full of misinformation. The Cliff Swallows have been gradually deserting the famed Mission San Juan Capistrano as a nesting site for at least 25 years. This phenomenon absolutely DID NOT begin this year. And most of the swallows which might have otherwise nested at the mission, DID NOT re-locate 50 miles away at the country club mentioned in the story. Their most preferred nesting sites are much closer–they use the bridges that carry Interstate 5 over the lagoons in northern San Diego County.

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Corey

June 07, 2010 9:39:42 am

Come on now Jeffrey, why let facts get in the way of a good story? 🙂

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Mary Howell Cromer

June 07, 2010 7:19:05 pm

It is a funny story, but nature and those beautiful Swallows knows better than any man made up tale~

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