Concerning the starving swallows, I recall reading an article that demonstrated natural selection for certain morphologic characteristics in Swallows. My recollection is a cold rainy spell in either Nebraska or Kansas in the late 90's resulted in increased mortality in Swallows (do not recall sps.). The survivors had I believe longer outer wing feathers and longer beaks. Both characteristics would provide a competitive advantage when resources are scarce. Longer wing tips would make a more efficient and maneuverable flier and the longer beak would result in more surface area to catch scarce food sources. Perhaps someone who recalls the article can give more details and a reference. My observations are the really cold wet three days early last week resulted in complete stoppage of nest building and in this current weather the nests are not occupied as much as usual. Also, there are several fluffed up swallows perched around the house. It will be nip and tuck for them even when the weather warms up tomorrow. A note on the botulism in the shore birds comment. It would not be too surprising to see some deaths from botulism as it an anaerobic bacteria and the flooded conditions we have now can certainly trigger an outbreak. It would be expected in water birds and other species that forage in standing water. It is a dose dependent disease and different species have different suseptibility to the toxin (at least in mammals). Scott Pendleton ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]