Dodge City Daily Globe, KS – Mar 21, 2014
At San Juan Capistrano, each year, spring is marked by the return of the Swallows. There is a huge festival, and these small birds make the national news every year when they return to their historic nesting sites.
In Meade County, Cliff Swallows return as early as April 10 each year and remain until the end of September. Large colonies of Cliff Swallows can be seen in any given year on bridges over the Cimarron River and Crooked Creek. There are not a lot of colonies in the county, but the ones which exist are well established.
Historically, Cliff Swallows nested on rock outcrops and in caves where they built their unique, bottle shaped mud nests. Apparently, they expanded their range across the country changing from their primitive nesting sites to using man-made sites such as bridges and buildings.
A department of transportation employee once told me that cliff swallow colonies help them detect structural flaws in highway bridges. Stress cracks and other flaws cause vibration to the structure and Cliff Swallows will not nest on that segment of a bridge.
As you might suspect, Cliff Swallows have a diet almost exclusively of insects. When feeding young, a large colony consumes a tremendous amount of insects and areas near nesting colonies are completely devoid of insects for quite a distance, including mosquitoes, grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies and the like.
Nesting on bridges has inherent risks. Drain holes at the edge of a bridge provide access for snakes to reach nests and devour eggs, young and even adult birds. Fledgling birds, just learning to fly are often hit by vehicles crossing the bridge.
Nests are refurbished each year with birds carrying a small drop of mud in their mouth to patch the nest. New nests take literally hundreds if not thousands of flights to buildÉone speck of mud per trip. Old nests, when re-used, can become infested with bed bugs or lice which may result in the death of young birds.
Following nesting, Cliff Swallows can be seen throughout the county, especially where there is water, such as around irrigation tailwater pits and playa lakes. In the fall, literally thousands of swallows of mixed species flocks will line the powerlines of the county preparing for migration. These flocks will contain Barn, Rough-winged and Tree Swallows as well as the most dominate Cliff Swallow.
Cliff Swallows winter in Brazil and Argentina. One individual banded by Chuck Ely in Logan County, Kansas was recovered in Argentina!
This weeks copyrighted photos are through the courtesy of Terry L. Sohl and can be viewed along with other excellent photos at the South Dakota Birds webpage at http://sdakotabirds.com/index.html.
See if you can be the first to see the returning swallows this year. Get outdoors and take the family birding.
