[EBB Sightings] rip

To all concerned folks who pm'ed me last week:
The hawk didn't make it, but passed away at Lindsay. I don't know what 
it is about them, but they seem special and while birds die everyday, 
there was something about leaving him out there that I couldn't accept. 
Hopefully, Lindsay can use his corpse, or feathers or something for 
fruitful study and education.

I don't know if its the less DDT, or just less boys with rifles, but I 
feel lucky to have seen the hawk population greatly increase since I 
was a kid. It's truly a pleasure to see them around. I reflected later 
that with these current numbers, maybe a person should let them become 
somebody else's meal, I dunno..... The day after the attempted rescue, 
I returned and saw what I think was one of the attackers from the day 
before, but this time, it seemed to be training a young'un, as the 
smaller one was soaring with it and sometimes seeming to nearly 
collide.

Tip request: went hiking at the canyon (Wildcat, immediately below the 
San Pablo Ridge trail on the lower road that terminates at a water 
tank) yesterday and saw a large number of swallows. They wouldn't sit 
still long enough for me to id them, but I did notice that they 
concentrated at a particular embankment of exposed soil. I guess they 
were either collecting nest material (clay) or something.  It reminded 
me of those clay-eating parrots on the nature shows. In flight, it was 
like Pearl Harbor out there, or some kind aerial dogfight. Beautiful to 
watch as there were several dozen in one updraft spot.

What is the common swallow I am seeing out there? Cliff or tree or 
barn? I just wasn't sure as they all seem to have the penguin-y white 
abdomens in the guides. Saw plenty of Western bluebirds there as well. 
For more-than-birders, saw a whipsnake as well by one of the ponds.