Birmingham News, AL – Aug 27, 2014
Sunday, August 27, 2014
We were driving through the Black Belt looking for kites, storks, anhingas and gallinules, when I noticed skeins of swallows on the wire. Northern rough-winged swallows, they were – seemingly a mile of rough-winged swallows. They were, to the general public, little brown birds on a wire, all perched in a row. How easy to overlook, I thought.
There are birds that draw attention wherever they gather. Bald eagles, for instance, seldom pass unnoticed. On the other hand, hundreds of species of birds exist “under the radar” to most of us, passing their lives, however extraordinary, in relative obscurity, little known or considered by the broader public.
The northern rough-winged swallow is such a bird. Of its kith, purple martins are widely admired and much sought-after members of the swallow family. And barn swallows, with their scissor-tails, rich plumage and darting flight, catch the eye of even the casual observer. But passing almost unnoticed among the swallows native to Alabama is the northern rough-winged swallow.
wallows all are slender, aerodynamic little birds with long, swept wings, short legs, and short, flat bills. Rough-wings are brown with notched tails, and as such can only be confused with bank swallows at this time of year. But the titmouse-sized rough-winged swallow is somewhat larger than the tiny bank swallow. And rough-winged swallows have a dingy belly and flanks, not the gleaming white underparts of bank swallows. The best quick ID tip, though is to look at the chin. Rough-wings are the only swallows with a gray-brown “smudge” on the chin and upper chest. Another way to identify rough-wings – they give a “Bronx cheer,” a short, rolling, “spppptt-sppptt-sppptt” sort of sound.
Migration is the only time you’ll find rough-winged swallows in great numbers. They are for the most part solitary birds, nesting in isolated pairs, unlike the large nesting colonies that other swallows employ. Rough-winged swallows are not picky about habitat, either. They may be found in urban, suburban or rural settings and will nest in any kind of hollow, crevice or declivity from drain pipes to burrows that they or other species may excavate.
This is the season when swallows of all species congregate in impressive numbers from roughly Montgomery south, readying themselves for their fall flight. It’s a fine time to drive south to witness thousands and thousands of swallows perching on power lines, hawking insects from over fields and ponds, preparing to leave us until next March.
Don’t you wonder about the name? It’s from their wings. Rough-winged swallows are the only swallows with serrations on the outer primary feathers. The purpose? Unknown. Paul H. Franklin is a naturalist and photographer who lives in Hoover and is director of Samford University’s Samford After Sundown programs. Write him at phfranklin36@yahoo.com.
