Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      (Small Grains/Forage Crops or Fields/Pasture or Residential)
   containing:
      (Rock Bluff or Man-made Structure - buildings/bridges)
   neighboring:
      (Any Open Water)

Habitat List:

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Literature:

Habitat: The Cliff Swallow is most commonly associated with open farmland or bodies of water, though other factors relating to suitable nest sites and soils that provide mud for nest construction are thought to influence local distribution. Since rocky outcrops are rare in the state, nesting is associated with human construction which includes barns, sheds, concrete highway bridges, dams and lighthouses. There is at least one report of this swallow using a natural rock substrate for nesting on Isle Royale. This dates from the early 1900s, and there are no later observations of such natural sites being used.

Nests are commonly placed under the eaves of barns and other structures, though several nests placed inside barns with open doors have been found in southern Michigan. The birds are highly colonial.

Habitat: Breeding: Farmlands, villages, cliffs, bridges, dams, fresh or salt water areas, open forests.

Special Habitat Requirements: Open foraging areas, vertical wall with an overhang for nest attachment, mud for nest construction, fresh water with smooth surface for drinking. Nesting success is higher when house sparrows are controlled at colonies.

This swallow is probably far more common today than when the Pilgrims landed. Originally it built its jug-shaped mud nests on the sides of cliffs. However, the sides of barns and the supports of bridges provided sheltered sites that were far more widespread than the natural ones.

Habitat: Open to semi-open land, farms, cliffs, river bluffs, lakes. Widespread in all kinds of semi-open country, especially near water, from prairies to desert rivers to clearings in northern forest. Breeds where it can find sheltered vertical cliffs or other surfaces for nesting and a supply of mud for building the nest; still unaccountably scarce or missing in some seemingly suitable areas.

Diet: Insects. Feeds mostly on wide variety of flying insects, particularly beetles (including June beetles and adult weevils), true bugs, flies, winged ants, bees, and wasps. Also eats grasshoppers, mayflies, lacewings, and various other insects, plus spiders. Occasionally eats berries. Feeds mostly on the wing. Often forages in flocks, and may feed low over the water or very high over other terrain.

Nest: Typically nests in colonies, sometimes with hundreds of nests crowded close together. Site is usually on vertical surface with some overhead shelter. Natural sites were on cliffs; most sites today on sides of buildings, under bridges, in culverts, or similar places.