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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Hi Tweeters,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> I read with interest all the posts yesterday about the decline in swallow numbers. We moved to Edmonds in 2017 and have had swallows around our house and down at the Edmonds marsh every year. But I also sense that their numbers are dropping here. Before 2020 we would have maybe 15 or 20 swallows flying over the trees between our house and Pine Ridge Park, not far away. Now we are pleased to see 4 or 5. Ours are always Violet-green. We put up a swallow box a few years ago and have had swallows in it every year except when we had the heat dome at the end of June—was that in 2021? Anyway after the heat dome, there were no insects and the swallows left for the year. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> My theory is that we have fewer insects now, perhaps because of insecticides or perhaps because of global warming. Fewer insects means fewer swallows, I think. The swallows this year didn’t begin nesting until June. This was late—they are usually done nesting by mid-June. The had at least one chick, but it got harder and harder for the parents to find insects for feed the chick. The adults would be gone for long periods of time and finally we would see them far off hawking for a few bugs. We think at least one chick fledged last week.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'> Anyway, we probably need more insects! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>Charlotte Byers, Edmonds<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>