<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">Today south of Chimicum, Jefferson County, I photographed an unusual swallow. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">Photo at <b><a href="https://ebird.org/checklist/S105328086">https://ebird.org/checklist/S105328086</a></b>. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">The upperparts were dark blue, similar to Barn Swallow.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">It differed from a typical Barn Swallow in the following ways: </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">- all the red/orange parts (forehead, throat, underparts, underwings) were rather bright white.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">- the forked tail was on the short side, lacking the longest outer rectrices. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">Also notable is that it was with Tree and Violet-green Swallows, and represents the first Barn Swallow of the season in the county; no other Barn Swallows were present. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">The white in the throat and forehead rules out Eurasian Barn Swallow, as well as the even more similar White-throated Swallow (from southern Africa and not that migratory, thus virtually impossible). </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">Dessi Sieburth suggested Barn x Tree Swallow. I can find no reference of such a beast, except for this intriguing post from Newfoundland in 2015, which is a fairly similar bird: <a href="https://retiringwithlisadeleon.blogspot.com/2015/05/possible-hybrid-swallow.html">https://retiringwithlisadeleon.blogspot.com/2015/05/possible-hybrid-swallow.html</a>. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">The Birds of the World account says: </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><u>Barn Swallow</u></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">Hirundo rustica</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"> is known to hybridize with both </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">Petrochelidon pyrrhonota</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">, the Cliff Swallow, and </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">P. fulva</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">, the Cave Swallow, with records in western North America from Washington south to California, western Nebraska, Arizona and Texas, and in eastern North America from Pennsylvania south and west to Oklahoma and Texas</span><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">. In the Old World, the Barn Swallow has hybridized with </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">Delichon urbicum</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">, the Common House-Martin, and </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">Cecropis daurica</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">, the Red-rumped Swallow</span><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">.</span><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><u>Tree Swallow</u><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">A mixed pair </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">T. bicolor</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"> and </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">T. thalassina</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"> [Violet-green Swallow] nested in Illinois, far east of the latter species' normal geographic range, but failed to raise young (Johnson and Moskoff 1995). Another mixed pair of these two species has been reported at a natural nest in Wyoming (S. Johnson pers. comm.), but it is not clear whether that pair produced offspring. Otherwise, the sole hybrid reported is a </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">T. bicolor</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"> × </span><em class="gmail-SciName gmail-notranslate" style="box-sizing:inherit;color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px">Petrochelidon pyrrhonota</em><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"> (the Cliff Swallow) collected in Massachusetts (Chapman 1902).</span><span style="color:rgb(33,33,33);font-family:-apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Oxygen,Ubuntu,Cantarell,"Fira Sans","Droid Sans","Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;font-size:16px"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763">The only other option would be a Barn Swallow with a pigment deficiency, though that doesn't account for the short tail. </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-size:large;color:#073763"><br></div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div><font size="4" color="#073763"><span></span>Steve Hampton<span></span></font></div><div>Port Townsend, WA  (<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:verdana,arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px">qatáy</span>)</div></div><br><div><font color="#073763"><i><br></i></font></div></div></div></div>