Tree Swallow Range Expansion 105 



water areas of Maryland's Coastal Plain. This species was first reported 

 as breeding in this area in 1929 and 1933 (unpublished egg catalogue 

 of E. J. Court; Court 1936), but based on Virginia records (see 

 below) it was probably present some time before Court's report. A 

 disjunct portion of the breeding range was also noted in the Allegheny 

 Mountains (Garrett County) with five specific nesting localities listed 

 (Stewart and Robbins 1958). Despite a moderate amount of fieldwork 

 in western Maryland early in this century, the first report of mountain 

 nesting was not until 1920 (Eifrig 1920) with subsequent records in 

 1936 (Brooks 1936). The earliest documented nesting in Maryland 

 was 1894 (W. H. Fisher; in Stewart and Robbins 1958). Although it 

 is not known when tree swallows first started nesting in Maryland, it 

 was likely just before the turn of the century. The 1894 record is 

 for Baltimore County and is probably from Dulaney Valley north of 

 Towson, where Fisher did most of his fieldwork (Lee 1988). Interesting- 

 ly, this area was not considered part of the tree swallow's range in 

 1958. In 1968 the distribution was essentially unchanged (Robbins 

 and Van Velzen 1968). Since then, however, the species has expanded 

 throughout the state. It is still most numerous in the mountains and 

 in tidewater areas. Tree swallows are now locally common nesters in 

 the Maryland Piedmont (Maryland Breeding Bird Atlas data). State- 

 wide they were found in 393 of the 1,256 Atlas blocks (31.2%), and 

 they were found in every county in the state (C. S. Robbins, personal 

 communication). Colonization of most areas in Maryland seems to be 

 dependent on the species ability to nest in bluebird boxes. 



Kentucky — Despite the state's location in relation to the historic 

 range of tree swallows (southern Illinois 1889, Missouri 1894, and 

 Tennessee 1918), the species was essentially unknown as a breeding 

 bird in Kentucky even by the mid-1960s (Mengel 1965). The only 

 record for the state before the 1960s is from 1889 to 1925 when 

 Pindar noted that tree swallows were present in Fulton County in the 

 summer. This county is in the extreme western tip of the state along 

 the Mississippi River and just north of Reelfoot Lake, the site of the 

 first record for Tennessee (Pindar 1889, 1925). Mengel (1965) visited 

 this area between 1941 and 1951 and, although he noted favorable 

 habitat, he did not locate nesting birds. Breeding was again noted in 

 1905 in the Cumberland River Valley (Lyon County at Long Run 

 Park in Jefferson County) in 1975 (Monroe et al. 1988). The species 

 is now recorded as nesting in scattered localities throughout the state. 

 Its nesting is mostly along edges of lakes and rivers where there are 

 many dead trees, and recently the species has been found using nest 

 boxes (Monroe et al. 1988). 



