CLIFF SWALLOW GALLERY
(Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)

eBird provides this description of the Cliff Swallow:  Compact swallow with a short tail. Looks slightly rounder winged than other swallows. Nests under bridges, overpasses, and culverts. Often sticks out among a flock of other swallows with its pale orangey rump. Cave Swallow also has a pale rump, but note Cliff’s darker throat, white forehead, and different range.

On the afternoon of April 19, 2020, I found myself at the edge of Independence Park in Gonzales, Texas, where Highway 183 crosses over the Guadalupe River.  Under the bridge is a large concentration of Cliff Swallow nests.  I was unable to capture a picture of the full bird, but you can see their faces sticking out of the nest.  Next time I will make an effort to photograph some of them on the ground, away from the nest.  

Part of the Cliff Swallow colony under the Guadalupe River Bridge, Gonzales, Texas, April 19, 2020.
A little closer view of a Cliff Swallow in its nest, April 19, 2020, Gonzales, Texas.



“Cool Facts” About Cliff Swallows From All About Birds…

  • 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.
  • The oldest recorded Cliff Swallow was a male, and at least 11 years, 10 months old when he was recaptured and rereleased for scientific purposes in California in 2004. He had been banded in Nebraska in 1993.