ADW: Petrochelidon pyrrhonota: INFORMATION

Habitat

Cliff swallow breeding habitat includes canyons, hills, valleys, and cliff faces. man-made buildings and structures besides provide shelter for nesting areas ; any areas that have buildings or bridges serve as possible nest sites, expanding their education areas to grasslands and towns. Any nest areas with access to water/mud spots are beneficial, because of the handiness of food and cuddle materials. Nesting typically takes space from sea flat to 2770m, but can be ampere senior high school as 3200 megabyte .
Habitats during the winter include coastlines and other inland bodies of water. very little information is available on the habitat of cliff swallows during migration. Cliff swallows may target waterbodies while migrating, as a source of insect prey .
identical small is known about their habitat during the winter, but cliff swallows are known to use grasslands, agrarian areas, towns, and marshes. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; Brown and Brown, 2000a )

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• freshwater

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland
• forest

• Aquatic Biomes
• lakes and ponds

  Reading: ADW: Petrochelidon pyrrhonota: INFORMATION

• rivers and streams
• coastal

• Wetlands
• marsh

• Other Habitat Features
• suburban
• agricultural

• Range elevation

  0 to 3200 m

  0.00 to 10498.69 ft

Physical Description

cliff swallows have square tails with an orange rump, and their throats have a chestnut hue. Adults have chins, throats, and sides of the neck that are tipped with a chestnut color. Their breasts are white or cream-colored. Some birds will have a cream or white triangular-shaped brow mend, and a black or blue-ish crown. The birds ‘ rumps can be pink. The circular of cliff swallows is black. The legs and feet are both brown university in adults while juveniles are pink with a flimsy cinnamon hue .
The modal mass of these birds ranges from 22.22 to 24.15 g. Length of cliff swallow ranges from 127 to 152.4 millimeter, and wingspans range from 279.4 to 299.72 mm. They exhibit little sexual dimorphism, as the entirely dispute is a larger dark bluing eyepatch on the throat of males .
feather for juveniles is duller than the feather of adults. The colors on their throats and foreheads vary well among individuals of this age. Nestlings have a rebuff bit of yellow, with brown irises .
cliff swallows differ morphologically from other north american swallows in that their heads and necks are thick. Color patterns besides spot these cliff swallows. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Brown and Brown, 2000b ; Brown and Brown, 2011 )

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• male more colorful

• Range mass

  22.22 to 24.15 g

  0.78 to 0.85 oz

• Range length

  127 to 152.4 mm

  5.00 to 6.00 in

• Range wingspan

  279.4 to 299.72 mm

  11.00 to 11.80 in

Lifespan/Longevity

The highest read life for a cliff immerse was 11 years, as was observed from two birds in Nebraska. There is neither read average life nor any information collected for cliff swallows in enslavement. These birds typically are not kept in captivity .
The probability of survival of birds was recorded during their periods of increase. cliff swallows have an annual probability of survival of 0.17 during their first year of growth, Brown and Brown ( 1995 ). This probability increases in the succeed years, up to 0.57 per annum. There is no remainder between male populations or female populations for survival. But, there is annual variation in adult populations ranging from 0.47-0.64. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Brown, et al., 2008 ; Brown, et al., 2015b )

• Range lifespan
  status : fantastic

  11 (high) years

Behavior

cliff swallows hold the largest colony size among all species of swallows. Colony size can range from 200-3700 total nests in the area ( Brown and Brown 1995 ). lonely cuddle is rare, and typically occurs in close proximity to another large colony. These birds rehearse brood parasitism in their colony, laying eggs in the nests of neighbors. This lessens the generative effort for the layer and maximizes generative output. This has the opposite effect on the occupants of the nest. When defending nests, the birds will puff out feathers to appear larger. The flannel patches on cliff swallows ‘ foreheads may be used as a display of possession of a nest .
cliff swallows fight when selecting nesting areas. many nests are existing ones from former years, indeed repair and renovation is all that ‘s needed. Birds use both their beaks and wings to attack one another and fights can end up to 15 minutes .
not all cliff swallow interactions are negative. These birds may play while perched on high gear wires. Birds will attempt to knock one another off the wire and take their spots on the wire. This type of meet will happen for a brusque period of prison term and then convention perching occur again. Birds besides will allopreen ( clean one another ) on high surfaces like powerlines close to the colonies, in large groups. The birds on the out margin of preening groups will spend most of the meter watching for predators. Preening broadly happens in the mid-end of summer during periods of sunrise and sunset. Allopreening birds besides will attack one another for unknown causes .
Birds besides will chase one another in spring which could be part of their checkmate behaviors, because the twitter-squeak song is normally accompanying these chases .
cliff swallows will sunbathe by rolling to one side and exposing the majority of their bodies to the sunlight. This chiefly occurs when allopreening is taking place. They generally do n’t swim and actual bathe is uncommon .
cliff swallows are quick, efficient fliers. Flight altitudes range for birds from ground tied to 60 m above grind. Flap amphetamine will increase when making maneuvers or climbing in altitude. The tail is besides outspread during turns. Cliff swallows will make these fast maneuvers when chasing their prey and flare tails after catching raven .
Migration takes plaza in late summer, and birds will migrate southbound into South America along the coastlines. Cliff swallows will remain in boastfully groups during the non-breeding seasons. Birds may besides be mobile during the winter times. cliff swallows then migrate back into North America in early April. ( Blake, 1948 ; ; Brown and Brown, 2002 ; Brown, 2010 ; Brown, et al., 2015b ; Johnson and Freedberg, 2014 ; Withers, 1977 )

• Key Behaviors
• arboreal
• flies
• diurnal
• crepuscular
• motile
• migratory
• colonial

• Average territory size

  <1 m^2

Home Range

Colonies in the leap broadly range from 2-15 kilometer for males and 9-14km for females. Foraging broadly happens in a 1.5 kilometer radius around the colony. Foraging outside this area sometimes happens up to 6km outside the region .
Territories are restricted to the actual nest site that pairs will defend in the breed season. These nests are mud domes, and pairs will attack neighbors who try to build nests within 8-12 curium from their nest opening. consequently, territory sizes are negligible. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Brown and Brown, 2002 ; Brown, 2010 ; Brown, et al., 2015b ; Johnson and Freedberg, 2014 )

Communication and Perception

utterance is the main road of communication for cliff swallows. Nestlings can vocalize at 5-6 days erstwhile. These swallows ‘ vocal range consists of five independent vocal calls. These are : begging call, purr call ( alarm clock ), chur address ( multiple uses ), twitter-squeak song ( courtship and cuddle ), and squeak call ( foraging ). Males most probable entirely make the twitter-squeak call, but both sexes make the other four. Each bird has a distinctive call that is distinct by 15-18 days honest-to-god, and, for genic reasons, siblings express similar calls. The begging call of youths becomes the “ chur ” call once adulthood is reached. cliff swallows are besides able to make their dismay call by week 6 .
Vocalization besides varies by seasons. voice is at its lowest for these birds during the winter. There appears to be no impression on voice due to time of day. however, location is influential, as three of the calls ( begging, chur, twitter-squeak ) occur entirely inside the adjacent .
The whizz and chur calls are used during the nest and reproduction season. The twitter-squeak margin call is chiefly used in bounce and declines once mates are found, but is used again in deep summer when defending nests. The close call call is used during breeding in summer solstice. The begging call is used primarily from young person to parents for food and recognition of the youth. Brown and Brown ( 1995 ) reported that cliff swallows in Washington will evict young that are not theirs from nests, while those in Nebraska do not. Adult birds identify which young is theirs based on the begging call. The whizz call is used for when predators are threatening. Though directed at the marauder, it may cause other colony members to come out of their nests in reception. When the purr birdcall is in the absence of predators, its finish may be to allow the caller to intrude upon others ‘ nests. The chur call appears to have multiple uses between pairs, parents, offspring, or nearby nests .
imagination and haptic senses are significant in the colonial group, and they allopreen, fly to avoid one another, and play pecking games on highwires. Their sense of listen besides is crucial, particularly for parents to recognize the calls of their young. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Johnson and Freedberg, 2014 ; Weaver and Brown, 2004 )

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Cliff swallows ‘ main generator of food is flying insects. It appears that insects are taken opportunistically, without preference for sealed orders or families. however, cliff swallows ‘ diets may include more swarming species than not, do to the nature of efficiently consuming big volumes of insects .
casual consumption of seeds and gravel has been reported, as these could help break up food during digestion. During foraging, cliff swallows feed from 50m and above from reason level. General foraging areas are grassy areas, but lakes, ponds, and rivers are besides sources of food when the worm population is broken in the area. Some populations have individuals that will forage on the grind, consuming mundane invertebrates, like ants .
cliff swallows are diurnal foragers and feed in groups of 2-1000 birds at times. They use the presence of other insect eaters as a signal of where to feed, then swarm the feed area for insects. Thermals ( up wind currents ) besides are locations where insects concentrate, so the birds much target these. feed is broadly acute before the nest season and lasts all day hanker during the nest season. The birds will travel out of the colonies to feed in shorter but more patronize bursts during the nest temper. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Brown and Brown, 2002 )

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects

• Plant Foods
• seeds, grains, and nuts

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive

Like many early songbirds and early migrant birds, cliff swallows contribute towards bird-watching in many regions. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; Brown and Sethi, 2002 )

• Positive Impacts
• ecotourism

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

There are no report negative effects of cliff swallows on humans .

Conservation Status

cliff swallows are listed as species of “ Least Concern ” under The IUCN Red List and are protected under the US Migratory Bird Act. The US Migratory Bird Act prohibits any hound of cliff swallows. This species, because it ‘s the border of its roll, is listed as “ threaten ” in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. They are not listed on the CITES appendices or on the US Federal List .
cliff swallows contract the Fort Morgan Virus, but it appears to have no adverse effects during the fledge process. Another strange virus besides affected multiple birds in Oklahoma that besides has no witness effects on birds .
As a species that can benefit from human interaction, cliff swallow populations have been reportedly increasing. Habitats for cliff swallows are enhanced by man-made structures such as bridges and buildings as possible nest sites. Because the birds are very broad of human mental disorder, human expansion does not negatively impact cliff swallows .
There are state- and locality-based conservation efforts that have attempted to increase the population of cliff swallows in certain areas. Efforts include man-made nests being put up to attract cliff swallows to colonize in certain areas and help increase the cliff immerse populations in localities. Control or elimination of competing, encroaching house sparrows Passer domesticus besides has shown to have positive impacts on cliff swallows. ( Brown and Brown, 1995 ; ; BirdLife International, 2012 )

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern

• US Migratory Bird Act

  Protected

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No especial status

• State of Michigan List

  No especial status

Contributors

Joshua Tulppo ( generator ), Radford University, Alex Atwood ( editor program ), Radford University, Marisa Dameron ( editor ), Radford University, Karen Powers ( editor program ), Radford University, Tanya Dewey ( editor ), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor .

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northerly contribution of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the north american as far south as the highlands of cardinal Mexico .

Neotropical

live in the southern partially of the New World. In other words, Central and South America .

Palearctic

surviving in the northern depart of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northerly Africa .

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

live in landscapes dominated by human farming .

arboreal

Referring to an animal that lives in trees ; tree-climbing .

bilateral symmetry

having consistency symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral isotropy have dorsal and adaxial sides, arsenic well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria .

carnivore

an animal that chiefly eats meat

chemical

uses smells or early chemicals to communicate

coastal

the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.

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colonial

used broadly to describe any group of organisms living together or in close proximity to each other – for example nest shorebirds that live in large colonies. More specifically refers to a group of organisms in which members act as speciate subunits ( a continuous, modular society ) – as in clonal organisms .

crepuscular

active at dawn and twilight

diurnal

1. active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.

ecotourism

humans benefit economically by promoting tourism that focuses on the appreciation of natural areas or animals. ecotourism implies that there are existing programs that profit from the admiration of natural areas or animals .

endothermic

animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate consistency temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a ( nowadays extinct ) synapsid ancestor ; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. convergent in birds .

forest

forest biomes are dominated by trees, differently forest biomes can vary widely in amount of precipitation and seasonality .

freshwater

chiefly lives in body of water that is not salty .

insectivore

An animal that eats chiefly insects or spiders .

iteroparous

offspring are produced in more than one group ( litters, clutches, etc. ) and across multiple seasons ( or other periods hospitable to reproduction ). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons ( or periodic discipline changes ) .

marsh

marshes are wetland areas frequently dominated by grasses and reeds .

migratory

makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds

monogamous

Having one mate at a time .

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another .

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the area in which it is endemic .

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female ; development of offspring occurs outside the beget ‘s torso .

polygynandrous

the kind of polygamy in which a female copulate with respective males, each of which besides pairs with several different females .

seasonal breeding

breed is confined to a finical season

sexual

replica that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

suburban

populate in residential areas on the outskirts of boastfully cities or towns .

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that area of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North ( between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle ) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South ( between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle ) .

tropical

the region of the earth that surrounds the equator, from 23.5 degrees north to 23.5 degrees south .

tropical savanna and grassland

A tellurian biome. Savannas are grasslands with confused individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia .

savanna

A grassland with confused trees or disperse clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See besides Tropical savanna and grassland biome .

temperate grassland

A planetary biome found in moderate latitudes ( > 23.5° N or S latitude ). vegetation is made up by and large of grasses, the height and species diverseness of which depend largely on the come of moisture available. Fire and grazing are significant in the long-run maintenance of grasslands .

visual

uses sight to communicate

References

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BirdLife International, 2012. “ Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ” ( On-line ). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2012 : e.T22712427A38672463. access September 15, 2016 at http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2012-1.RLTS.T22712427A38672463.en .
Blake, C. 1948. The flight of swallows. Auk, 65 : 54-62 .
Brown, C., M. Brown. 1996. Coloniality in the Cliff Swallow : The Effect of Group Size on Social Behavior. Chicago, Illinois : University of Chicago Press .
Brown, C., M. Brown. 2000. Weather-mediated natural excerpt on arrival time in cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 47/5 : 339-345 .
Brown, C. 2010. How cliff swallows choose where to live. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 90/1 : 4-7 .
Brown, C., M. Brown. 2002. Does intercolony rival for food affect colony choice in cliff swallows ?. The Condor, 104/1 : 117-128 .
Brown, C., M. Brown. 2000. inheritable basis for choice of group size in a colonial bird. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 97/26 : 14825–14830 .
Brown, C., M. Brown, K. Brazeal. 2008. familiarity with breeding habitat improves daily survival in colonial cliff swallows. Animal Behaviour, 76/4 : 1201-1210 .
Brown, C., m. Brown, M. Shaffer. 1991. Food-sharing signals among socially foraging cliff swallows. Animal Behaviour, 42/4 : 551-564 .
Brown, C., M. Brown. 1995. Cliff swallow ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ). Pp. none in P Rodewald, erectile dysfunction. Birds of North America, Vol. none. Ithaca, New York : Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Accessed November 27, 2016 at https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/cliswa .
Brown, C., E. Roche, M. Brown. 2015. Parent-offspring resemblance in colony-specific adult survival of cliff swallows. Evolutionary Ecology, 29/4 : 537-550 .
Brown, C., E. Roche, V. O’Brien. 2015. Costs and benefits of late cuddle in cliff swallows. Oeocologia, 177/2 : 413-421 .
Brown, C., R. Sethi. 2002. Mosquito abundance is correlated with cliff swallow ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) colony size. Journal of Medical Entomology, 39/1 : 115-120 .
Brown, M., C. Brown. 2011. acute natural selection on morphology of cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) a ten late : Did the population move between adaptive peaks ?. The Auk, 128/1 : 69-77 .
Bullard, R. 1963. Banding notes on the Nickajack cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ). Eastern Bird-Banding Association News, 26 : 191-203 .
Byard, M., R. Freeman, G. Pester. 1979. Peregrine falcons sighted in Texas County, Oklahoma. Bulletin of the Oklahoma Ornithological Society, 12/2 : 13-14 .
Dugas, M. 2010. Nestling birds put their best flange forward. Journal of Avian Biology, 41/3 : 336-341 .
Fajer, E., K. Schmidt, J. Eschler. 1987. Acorn woodpecker depredation on cliff swallow nests. Condor, 89 : 177-178 .
Johnson, A., S. Freedberg. 2014. variable facial feather in adolescent cliff swallows : A potential offspring recognition cue ?. The Auk, 131/2 : 121-128 .
Jones, H. 1883. An live substance abuse of the Red-headed Woodpecker. Ornithologist and Oologist, 8 : 56 .
Kirby, R. 1978. Roosting of passerines over open water at night .. North american Bird Bander, 3 : 104-105 .
McNair, D. 2013. Cliff swallow reproduction stove expansion along the Great Pee Dee River corridor in the Carolinas. Southeastern Naturalist, 12/3 : 500-513 .
Oliver, G. 1970. Black ratsnake depredation upon nesting Barn and Cliff swallows. Oklahoma Ornithological Society, 3 : 17-20 .
Sikes, P., K. Arnold. 1986. Red imported fire ant ( Solenopsis invicta ) depredation on cliff swallow ( Hirundo pyrrhonota ) nestlings in east-central Texas. Southwestern Naturalist, 31 : 105-106 .
Sotherland, P., G. Packard, T. Taigen, T. Boardman. 1980. An altitudinal cline in conductance of cliff swallow ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) eggs to water system vapor. The Auk, 971 : 177-185 .
Thompson, B., C. Turner. 1980. Bull snake depredation at a cliff swallow nest. Murrelet, 61 : 35-36 .
Tumlison, R. 2009. Breeding by cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) in southerly Arkansas. Southwestern Naturalist, 54/2 : 208-210.

Weaver, H., C. Brown. 2004. Brood parasitism and egg remove in cave swallows ( Petrochelidon fulva ) and cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ) in south Texas. The Auk, 121/4 : 1122-1129 .
Wilkinson, G., G. English-Loeb. 1982. predation and coloniality in cliff swallows ( Petrochelidon pyrrhonota ). Auk, 99 : 459-467 .
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