How to Identify aCliff Swallow
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota · 5.1–5.9 in (13–15 cm)
Male vs. female
Male
Dark blue back, rusty throat and cheeks, pale creamy forehead patch and a buff-orange rump; square tail. Sexes look alike.
Female
Identical to the male in the field.
Male photo: Don DeBold / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Second photo: Mike's Birds / Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
Field marks
- Square-tipped tail with no fork
- Buffy-orange rump patch obvious in flight
- Pale creamy forehead above a dark rusty face
- Compact, short-tailed shape
Similar species
What it sounds like
A low, creaky chattering and grating twitters given around the nesting colony.
Behaviour that gives it away
Builds enclosed gourd-shaped mud nests packed side by side in colonies of hundreds under bridges, culverts and eaves.
Habitat & range
Open country near bridges, dams, culverts and cliffs across most of North America in summer.
When you'll see it
A summer visitor that arrives to breed in North America.
What it eats
Flying insects caught in the air, often high over fields and water.
Did you know?
It builds a closed gourd-shaped nest from mouthful after mouthful of mud pellets, packed shoulder to shoulder in dense colonies.
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