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American Cliff Swallow | Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
Amerikaanse klifzwaluw | Golondrina risquera
The American Cliff Swallow breeds in colonies of gourd-shaped mud nests on cliffs, bridges and buildings in North America and winters in southern South America. Most birds migrate overland through Central America, but some pass through the Caribbean; most records come from the Cayman Islands, the ABC Islands and San Andrés. It is scarce everywhere in the region and is usually found among other swallows.
Voice
A low, grating vrrt or churr and soft, squeaky twittering in flocks.
Recording: Stanislas Wroza — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · shortened to the first 60 s, mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13–15 cm, stocky, with a square tail and broad, pointed wings. The forehead is white to cream, the crown and back dark blue-black with pale streaks on the back. The cheeks and throat are dark chestnut, with a black patch on the lower throat; the nape is greyish, the breast grey-brown and the belly white. The pale buff rump is distinctive in flight. The sexes are alike. Juveniles are duller, without gloss, with a darker forehead and a pale-speckled throat. Birds from south-western North America have a cinnamon forehead.
Confusion species
Cave Swallow Petrochelidon fulva has a cinnamon forehead, a pale buff throat and cheeks without a black patch, and a darker rusty rump. On Cliff Swallows with a dark or cinnamon forehead, the dark throat remains the best feature. Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica has a dark rump and a deeply forked tail.
Habitat
On migration over open ground, often near water: lakes, salt ponds, marshes, rice fields and pastures, and along the coast. It feeds in flocks on flying insects, often with Barn Swallows. In North America it breeds in dense colonies; each nest is a closed, gourd-shaped structure of mud pellets with an entrance tunnel, under overhanging rock, under bridges and on buildings.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
A scarce passage migrant, most often on the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, San Andrés and Cuba; rare on Guadeloupe and the other Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas and Trinidad. Breeds from Alaska and Canada to Mexico and winters in southern South America, from southern Brazil to Argentina.
- Resident
- Summer visitor (c. Oct–Mar)
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
During migration, check swallow flocks at salt ponds and freshwater pools on the ABC Islands and the Cayman Islands. In flight the pale rump on a square-tailed swallow is the first thing to notice, followed by the pale forehead and dark throat.
Conservation status
Least Concern. A common species that expanded during the last century as bridges, dams and buildings provided new nest sites.
Scientific name
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota | (Vieillot, 1817)
Vieillot described the species in 1817 as Hirundo pyrrhonota; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Petrochelidon was introduced in 1851 by Cabanis. Petrochelidon comes from the Greek petros, 'rock', and khelidōn, 'swallow' — for the cliff swallows' habit of building their mud nests against rock faces. pyrrhonota is Greek, from purrhos 'flame-coloured' and nōtos 'back', after the rusty rump. The specimen the first description was based on came from Paraguay.