Photos: Swallows won’t return to Capistrano

Posted May 16, 2012 | Photo

Mission San Juan Capistrano’s tourists wander through the courtyard — ablaze with flowers in full bloom — and wonder where the iconic swallows are. The swallows that were known to return to the mission every March have not returned in recent years. To lure back the cliff swallow, which put San Juan Capistrano on the map, the mission has tried drawing them with food, shelter and now seduction as the birds’ recorded mating call plays on a continuous loop for up to six hours a day, five days a week. (more…)