Notes about your surroundings.

Moving On--The first wave of the spring bird migration is under way in Orange County, with swallows, swifts, hummingbirds and hawks at the vanguard of the huge avian movement.

Five species of swallow and two species of swift were seen last week during an Audubon field trip to Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim. Three types of swallow--cliff, northern rough-winged and barn--nest locally, but their numbers have been augmented by birds migrating from points farther south. Also spotted were large numbers of migrating violet green and tree swallows.

Shore birds and ducks that have wintered in local estuaries, meanwhile, are getting ready to head north to their breeding grounds. Endangered California least terns, which breed locally, are expected to arrive in April.

Land birds that spent the winter in the county are starting to move around. So, according to Sylvia Gallagher of the local Sea & Sage Audubon Society, birds that spent the last few months in a yard across town “might turn up in your yard now.”