SeeCalifornia.com

The annual Mission San Juan Capistrano “Return of the Swallows” on March 19 has been missing its swallows in recent years. The migrating birds are no longer flocking to the mission to build their mud nests, so an experiment has taken place during the past three spring seasons. Male swallow courtship sounds that broadcast from behind the statue of the mission founder, Fr. Junipero Serra (father of California missions,) are meant to gain the attention of the fast-flying birds migrating from Argentina each March. 2015 is the last year this Vocalization Project will attempt to lure the birds back to roost & produce, according to Dr. Charles Brown, a biology professor at University of Tulsa. The swallows scholar has studied more than 200,000 cliff swallows over the last 28 years and has written two books about them: “Swallows Summer”, and “Coloniality in the Cliff Swallows”.  In charge of the innovative Southern California project to get the birds to visit once again, he has other ideas up his sleeve that he and the mission staff are considering. It’s possible the birds may never return to Mission San Juan Capistrano, he says. As for the recordings, this could be the “last call.”