Returnin Swallows
Mission San Juan Capistrano
Why do the Swallows return to Capistrano every year? Is there a sale at Macy’s? Do they have
relatives that live there? Maybe they’re having an annual family reunion? And, what’s a Swallow
anyway?
Actually, Swallows are a family of passerine birds found around the world on all continents except
Antarctica. This particular genus comes from Goya, Argentina over 6,000 miles away from San
Juan Capistrano.
It seems that every year on March 19th, also known as St. Joseph’s Day the miracle of the
Swallows of Capistrano takes place at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The community welcomes
visitors from all parts of the world to welcome the return of the swallows every year. This
wonderful event has been celebrated since the early 1930s.
Before urbanization Mission San Juan Capistrano was the main and largest building in the area,
which attracted the Swallows every March. As a result of the development of the community and
stabilization of the Ruins of the Great Stone Church, where the Swallows nests were removed by
preservationists, the Swallows nested in other locations separately from the Mission.
Unfortunately, the number of swallows returning to the Mission each year began to decline.
In 2012 the community started The Vocalization Project, in which they used recorded courtship
calls playing through spe