MISSION
The San Diego County Task Force, a subgroup of the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project, promotes wetlands planning and project implementation from the Tijuana River watershed in Baja California to the Santa Margarita watershed encompassing Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton. The Task Force serves as a forum to advance wetlands restoration science in project design, watershed planning and public policy. In addition, the Task Force fosters community-based organization education and participation in wetlands related activities and projects throughout San Diego County and Baja California. San Diego County Supervisors Pam Slater-Price and Greg Cox serve as Task Force Chairs and partners for WRP in San Diego County. Shara Fisler, Executive Director of Aquatic Adventures, and Steve Aceti, Executive Director of the California Coastal Coalition, also serve as Task Force co-chairs, representing community-based, wetlands scientists’ and environmental non-profit interests.
|
|
FEATURED WETLAND SPECIES SPOTLIGHT
(submitted by Lakeside River Park Conservancy): Cliff Swallow
Have you seen the little birds darting about catching bugs in flight and collecting mud to build their nest under the Channel Road Bridge? Our seasonal guests are cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), who spend their winters in far away locations such as Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. Their 7, 500 mile voyage takes 30 days for them to complete with top speeds of 18 miles per hour. They fly non-stop from sunrise to sunset covering over 250 miles a day. After a six-month stay in California these migratory birds start preparing for their difficult journey back to South America. Enrique Bermudez, Para Todos Magazine correspondent, has calculated that Cliff Swallow’s round trip voyage is equal to a “complete flight around the planet earth” as they cross the equator twice.
It is easy to spot these small acrobatic birds along the San Diego River as they spend their days mostly in search of flying insects catching them in mid air. Their favorite meals are bugs, spiders, flies and worms found along the riverbed. During breeding periods and in preparation for the return flight these birds require an enormous amount of food. Bermudez tells in his article The Swallows of Goya that Cliff Swallows have “a result that no insecticide would be able to do better, and all without causing the least danger, neither to man nor to his fauna nor flora” as they eat 1,000 insects a day!
Originally the cliff swallow nested on protected cliffs and like clockwork they return to their ancestral colonial breeding sites. The San Juan Capistrano Mission in Southern California had once been a regular vacation spot for them for over 200 years with the entire town anticipating their return. However, with the urbanization of this area and the lack of mud and food supplies there the numbers of the cliff swallow residing at the Mission have declined and they are being forced to nestle under bridges, culverts and eaves of buildings.
The male begins the building process of the gourd-shaped nest out of mud that is collected from riverbeds, ponds, and ditches. With both pairs working they collect the mud necessary for the nest and line it with grasses, horsehairs and feathers. The female lays four to six cream colored eggs with reddish-brown spots. Incubation of the eggs is between 14 to 16 days with a 20 to 25 day fledging period after hatching. Both parents share in the incubation and feeding of the chicks.
 Cliff swallows are stocky square tailed birds only 5-6” long. They have blue-black backs with streaks of white and buff-white under parts. Their throat is chestnut brown with a white forehead and a tiny black bill.
With their graceful flight, chattering voices and sociable nature, these birds are fun to watch by walkers, hikers, bird watchers young and old alike. This is the season to look at these wonderful creatures before they leave us for their South American voyage!
Photo (left):© Scott Streit, 2000
TASK FORCE MEMBERS
|
|
