Inside a swallow roost!

I was pretty blown away to discover there's a Swallow roost practically visible from the end of our driveway... Last night was my first attempt at getting out there with my scope/camera and figuring out exactly what the birds were up to...

Things started off with small groups of Tree Swallows and Barn Swallow foraging around the pond... Low numbers of Bank Swallows at this time....

The primary suspects... Tree, Bank, Barn

Soon the first pioneering Trees & Barn's were swooping around the roost... Around this time there were swallows at all heights (some very high) appearing around the pond/neighbourhood... 

On this night, small groups started landing every few minutes... The first bunch looked a bit lonely! I was a bit surprised to see that the majority of Tree & Barn Swallows would approach this way - low over the water - with a quick circle or two of the roost - before settling down...

As the roost slowly started filling, it suddenly became apparent that a second group had formed high over the pond... As far as I could tell, it was mostly Bank Swallows (!) although all species were represented...

The roost was beside a blackbird roost (low numbers this time of year), and sporadically a Red-winged Blackbird would try to join the bunch, but otherwise not a lot would happen... If a Ring-billed Gull passed overhead, the "Bank Swallow" group would get nervous... 

Numbers continued to build... Primarily from birds coming in low along the pond surface... One issue they seemed to have was finding a good place to rest - as more birds landed on your perch, the more it started to sag towards the water... If 2-3 took off, then the rest would get catapulted back into the air - and subsequently landing elsewhere and continuing the process...

AND THEN - the grande finale! The Bank Swallow flock would DIVE at top speed (not unlike Chimney Swifts coming in to roost) and rapidly settle into the bunch! Some would settle in, and some would break free and fly higher before trying again.... By this time of night, my shutter speed was so slow I couldn't really capture the zooming mass, but it was an absolute spectacle to watch.

And then, everyone was settled!! Which is relative, because they were LOUD! 

What a show!!! Can't wait to see how it progresses throughout the summer. 

A dull cormorant

I was a bit worried about my Neotropic Cormorant streak, but I managed to see one today at VWB... Five years and counting!!!

After my lakewatch (with work calling), I decided to do a quick check of the Tollgate ponds... I can say that watching the flocks on the lake is a 1000x better way of spotting a NECO than looking through the masses there...

BUT WAIT!

Down low, on the edge of a mass, a cormorant sitting low with a dull/plain looking head... Surely I've spotted it on the ground!? I grabbed the scope, and was a bit shocked to see a decidedly-NON-Neotropic Cormorant...

Due to the dull features, I pondered Neotropic X Double-crested hybrid, but alas I wasn't really seeing any slam-dunk NECO features... Could this possibly be an uber-dull bird?? (I also decided it wasn't oiled, as the few head plumes it showed were white)...

It seemed to be paired up with a sub-adult DCCO... And was very clearly on the very edge of the nesting bunch (seemed to be on a nest)... So the jury is out in my books if this is NECOxDCCO or just DCCO (if "just DCCO" - it's a very odd bird)..

I did my best to get some record photos with my iPhone & scope. I even managed a video!

And more pics...

If you have any desire to visit & get better pics of the beast, here's where it is! (pond side, low on the berm) 

vlog + vlog

Wanted to do another video, but decided it'd be better as two (shorter) clips! So here's part one:

(reading some recent radar & how that translated into birding)

Then part two:

(a look at the weekend weather, and then some)

That's it for now!

WHAT WENT WRONG (vlog)

Watch it on youtube at 1080p quality for the best viewing experience!

Any questions? Leave them below (or on the video) and i'll do my best to answer.

Lots of exciting birding to come! Although perhaps not in the traditional "first week of May" sense!