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Learn about the cliff swallow, a social songbird that builds gourd-shaped nests from mud under bridges or cliffs. Find out its plumage, distribution, behaviour, and how it differs from other swallows and martins.
Cliff Swallows build their mud nests on cliff faces and other vertical surfaces in colonies containing hundreds, even thousands of other birds. They also build nests in the eaves of buildings. The pair works together, gathering pellets of wet mud in their beaks and laying them down one by one in ...
28 lip 2012 · Learn about the Cliff Swallow, a compact swallow with a metallic blue back and a pale rump. Find out how they build mud nests in colonies on cliff ledges or under bridges, eaves, and culverts.
Learn about the Cliff Swallow, a long-distance migrant that nests in colonies on vertical surfaces with mud nests. Find out how climate change may affect its range and population, and see photos and sounds of this swallow.
Cliff Swallows build mud nests on cliffs, caves, bridges, and other structures, often in large colonies. Learn how they choose their nest sites, what they use to make their nests, and what predators threaten them.
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.
The swallows scoop up mud in their beaks and carefully build a gourd-shaped nest with a tapered opening. They add a lining of dry grass to keep eggs warm. It takes days of work and a thousand mouthfuls of mud to finish a single nest—and it’s just one part of a large colony.
