Thursday morning, 11/24/2005, I was birding in Chatham County and was headed out to the north beach at Tybee Island from the parking lot by the Tybee Lighthouse. I was walking over the wooden bridge to the beach and noticed several swallows flying over the dunes between the parking lot and the beach. I immediately stopped to get a better look, knowing that it was late in the season for most of the usual swallow species, other that Tree Swallow.

The birds made several passes close to the wooden bridge and I was able to see them well in my binoculars. They were relatively small in size and I could see that they had a tan rump similar to Cliff Swallows. The forehead showed a cinnamon patch note as dark as in Cliff Swallow. The chest and sides appeared white to gray. The tail was short and square (eliminating Barn Swallow). These were Cave Swallows, most likely the Mexican subspecies. There have been an increasing number of reports along the east coast during the late fall. I observed the birds for approximately 45 minutes and attempted to photograph them as they passed. The birds eventually disappeared heading south over the dunes.
The Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds (2003) lists the species as an Accidental transient in mid-Dec 2002. The first accepted records were from Wassaw Island (14 Dec 2002), Macon (14 Dec 2002) and Altamaha WMA (15 Dec 2002).
This report was submitted to the GOS Records Committee and was approved.

Additional reports of sightings from Phinizy Swamp in 2004 can also be found on the GOS web site at http://www.gos.org/sightings/44-swallows/casw.html

References:
Beaton, Giff; Sykes, Paul W. Jr.; Parrish, John W. Jr., 2003, Annotated Checklist of Georgia Birds, Fifth Edition.

Sibley, David A., 2000, National Audubon Society, The Sibley Guide to Birds.

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