Flock’s In! : Ringers of Welcoming Bells Flutter Belatedly to Their Posts as Swallows Soar Into San Juan Capistrano Right on Time

The return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano went far smoother Saturday--St. Joseph’s Day--than the efforts by humans to ring in the annual event.

The swallows not only completed their migration from Argentina with no problem, but dozens of the slender, gray birds began showing up around Mission San Juan Capistrano on Friday--a full day ahead of schedule.

But while the birds kept to schedule, the annual Swallows Day event did not.

By tradition, the arrival of the swallows is not official until the bells are rung atop a crumbling adobe wall in the Spanish mission, founded in 1776 by Father Junipero Serra.

Searched the Grounds

But the man in charge of ringing those bells, 92-year-old Paul Arbiso of San Juan Capistrano, was nowhere to be found at 8:30 a.m., the scheduled time.

Mission workers searched the grounds for Arbiso, who has rung in the swallows’ arrival every year for the past 40 years.

As about 100 spectators pressed impatiently against one another inside a small courtyard, Arbiso finally arrived at 9:30. Apologizing, he explained that he had been to Mass.

Then Arbiso himself had to wait for his two helpers to arrive. He stood stoically beneath the four bells for 10 minutes until his grandson, Mike Gastelum, ran through the crowd.

Then, without waiting for the second helper, the grandfather and grandson--both clad in the black-and-red garb of a vaquero, each grabbed the chains of two bells and vigorously began clanging them.

When they finished two minutes later, the third helper, Frank Velasquez, ran up, breathlessly explaining, “We got separated.”

No Serious Problems

But no serious problems marred the observance.

Parking spaces in downtown San Juan Capistrano were in short supply, as usual on Swallows Day. And the California Highway Patrol reported “super-heavy” traffic in the area throughout the day.

It didn’t matter that all did not proceed like clockwork. The 10,000 or so visitors who traveled from as far as Australia and New York--some of them sleeping in their recreational vehicles to be early in line at the mission--seemed to have a good time milling about the grounds of the mission and soaking up sun and history.

“It’s a beautiful place,” marveled Berry Bank, 49, of Long Beach, early in the day. “I just hope the swallows arrive.”

But even as she spoke, small groups of swallows could be seen flitting above and behind her.

Brian McInerney, the mission’s director of tourism, said many visitors have difficulty distinguishing the swallows from pigeons and swifts that inhabit the area. In fact, whenever a flock of pigeons became spooked and took off, someone in the crowd would say, “There go the swallows!”

Larger Number

A distant plane was briefly mistaken for some kind of large bird, until someone jokingly noted, “The wings aren’t flapping.”

Relatively few swallows had returned to the mission in the previous five years, but McInerney estimated Saturday’s arrivals at 3,000--twice last year’s number.

More will arrive over the next few days, although Saturday’s arrivals were the main flock.

The swallows will use water, mud and straw to build nests under eaves in the mission walls. They will remain until October, when they will migrate back to Argentina.

McInerney attributed the healthier--and larger--swallow population to two factors in recent years: The weather has been unusually good here, and agricultural pesticides which previously had killed the swallows both here and in Argentina have been prohibited.

Still, Rita Avila, 42, mission tour guide, said the number of swallows now doesn’t compare to that of 36 years ago.

“There were great flocks of them then,” Avila said, adding that development of south Orange County has destroyed much of their habitat.

For some, the arrival of the sparrows held a special significance.

Newlyweds Kevin and Jaime McGuire of Los Angeles said they had become engaged four years ago on St. Joseph’s Day.

“We joked that it was all due to the swallows’ return to Capistrano,” said Kevin, 26, a food broker.

Lifelong Dream

For Berry Bank, her visit to the mission fulfilled a lifelong dream stemming from childhood, when her father would sing, “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano.”

That song was composed in 1939 by the late Leon Rene, whose son, Rafael, thrilled mission crowds Saturday by singing the famous piece.

The event was a thrill even for locals like Avila.

“I think it’s just the love of a tradition,” Avila said, “and that it’s something special to Capistrano.”