It’s Feb. 20 and the first spring migrant is flying low over the waters of a mountain lake in Transylvania County. The first tree swallow has arrived, but winter has not yet retreated and it’s a ...

A male tree swallow gives a good yawn in the early morning light. This photo shows how wide a swallow can open its mouth when trying to capture flying insects. Credit: PHOTO BY BILL DANIELSON One of ...

Concern about how climate change affects food security usually focuses on agriculture in resource-poor countries. But disruptions to weather patterns threaten food supplies for wildlife too. Walk ...

I never tire of watching the aerial acrobatics of swallows as they swoop over fields, darting back and forth to snap up flying insects. With their smooth, flowing flight and pointed wings, they are ...

One of the great joys of spring is the first appearance of the tree swallows. In my yard, this event almost always occurs in the first week of April; this year was no exception. It was a close call, ...

Migratory swallows in search of food arrived in west Sonoma County around the beginning of April, when insects were becoming more abundant. The streamlined aerial acrobats will stay here long enough ...

Spring has come and birds are on the move. Many summer birds are yet to appear; April will be the peak month of arrivals. Some species, however, conduct their travels on a slightly earlier schedule ...

The sweet chittering from the sky above me awakened memories so fond that I smiled brightly from within without looking up. I was doing yard work. My eyes and hands concentrated on removing an overly ...

THE SWALLOWS ARE supposed to return in March and April. Birds don’t always do what we expect them to do. Reports of swallow sightings began coming in this winter, and that is more than a little ...

Caution is always the better part of valor when it comes to approaching a tree swallow nest box. If you don’t pay attention, you run the risk of being dive-bombed and potentially plunked on the head ...

On a recent visit to Bethpage State Park, I went with Kathy Wegman, a retired environmental horticulturist, as she checked bluebird and tree swallow nest boxes. At the first bluebird nest box, a ...