Cliff Swallow

Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family HIRUNDINIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

The gregarious Cliff Swallow nests in large colonies on buildings, cliffs, and under bridges. The gourd-shaped mud nests can number up to several hundred or thousand in a single location.

Cool Facts

• When a Cliff Swallow has had a hard time finding food, it will watch its neighbors in the nesting colony and follow one to food when it leaves. Although sharing of information about food at the colony seems unintentional, when a swallow finds food away from the colony during poor weather conditions it may give a specific call that alerts other Cliff Swallows that food is available. By alerting other swallows to a large insect swarm an individual may ensure that the swarm is tracked and that it can follow the swarm effectively.

• Although the Cliff Swallow can nest solitarily, it usually nests in colonies. Colonies tend to be small in the East, but further west they can number up to 3,700 nests in one spot.

• Within a Cliff Swallow colony some swallows lay eggs in another swallow's nest. Sometimes the swallow may lay eggs in its own nest and then carry one of its eggs in its bill and put it in another female's nest.

• When young Cliff Swallows leave their nests they congregate in large groups called creches. A pair of swallows can find its own young in the creche primarily by voice. Cliff Swallows have one of the most variable juvenal plumages, and the distinctive facial markings may help the parents recognize their chicks by sight too.

Description

• Size: 13 cm (5 in)
• Wingspan: 28-30 cm (11-12 in)
• Weight: 19-34 g (0.67-1.2 ounces)

• Small, long-winged stocky songbird.
• Small bill.
• Wings long and pointed.
• Throat dark.
• Tail square.
• Rump pale.

Rump orange. Throat and face chestnut. Dark blue-black on crown, back, and at base of throat. Underparts dull white. Cream-colored or white forehead; chestnut in some populations. A few narrow white streaks on back. Light brown collar around neck. Wings and tail drab dark brown. Bill black. Eyes black.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, but male has a larger dark patch at base of throat on average.

Immature

Juvenile looks similar to adult, but has brown, not blue-black, on the crown and back, and variable dark or pale throat and forehead.

Similar Species

• Distinguished from all other swallow species, except Cave Swallow, by its pale orange rump and square tail.
• Cave Swallow is similar, but usually has chestnut forehead and light throat.

Sound

Song a thin squeaking twitter. Call a soft "chur."

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from western and central Alaska eastward to Nova Scotia, southward to southern Mexico, central Arkansas, northern Georgia, and New Jersey.

Winter Range

Winters in southern South America.

Habitat

Breeds in a variety of habitats with open foraging areas and cliffs or buildings for nesting. Avoids heavy forest, desert, or high mountains.

Food

Flying insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Catches insects in flight, often high above ground.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest is a covered bowl made of mud pellets, with a small entrance tunnel on one side. Lined with grass. Nest placed on a vertical wall, usually just under an overhang. Colonial.

Egg Description

Creamy white with light and dark brown speckling.

Clutch Size

1-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Extreme coloniality makes population monitoring difficult and causes large variations in an area over time. Populations appear to be increasing.

Other Names

Hirondelle à front blanc (French)

Sources used to construct this page:

Brown, C. R., and M. B. Brown. 1995. Cliff Swallow (Hirundo pyrrhonota). In The Birds of North America, No. 149 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.