But no more. In the nineteen nineties, workers repaired and secured the old buildings. Hundreds of old nests were removed. The swallows returned in fewer and fewer numbers. They were not found at the mission at all in the past ten years.
The little brown birds with the white triangles on their faces still fly back to the city of San Juan Capistrano every spring.
But, the swallows no longer make their home at the mission.
Pat March is a volunteer at Mission San Juan Capistrano. She says there have been many attempts to get the birds to return, including setting out food.
PAT MARCH: “What they would do is they would put out ladybugs to attract the swallows.”
Employees also dug shallow holes in the ground around the mission and added water to make mud. The birds make their nests from wet earth.
Workers also placed man-made nests under the roof line of mission buildings. None of the attempts worked. So officials decided it was time to seek professional help. Enter scientist Charles Brown.
CHARLES BROWN: “I’ve been studying cliff swallows for about thirty years.”
Mister Brown is an ornithologist from the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma. He says forty years of development around San Juan Capistrano has led to a fifty percent reduction of the swallow population in southern California.
CHARLES BROWN: “That is the one part of North America where the numbers have been going down.”
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2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25
2013-11-25