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Akron Beacon Journal, OH – 20 hours ago
Portage Lakes group hangs up homes for insect eaters
By John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writer
COVENTRY TWP. – Until Sunday afternoon, Alyce Duncan had never flung scrambled eggs catapult-style at purple martins in mid-flight with a black plastic spoon.
Read more about Egging on swallows brings bird bounty …

naturegrid.org.uk Swallow (Barn Swallow) Hirundo rustica The Swallow has a very long forked tail. The “prongs” on the tail of the male are longer than those on the female. Both sexes of Swallow have a blue sheen on their backs and wings, and rust-red throats. They often perch on telegraph wires, and gather in groups […]

commercialappeal.com (subscription), TN – Jun 28, 2014
Talented volunteers have created many houses for a variety of birds at Marsh Haven Nature center.
The largest is a picnic shelter which is no longer used as such because it now provides shelter for 20 mud nests built by barn swallows and cliff swallows. At least 82 young barn swallows are on their way to fledging and many young cliff swallow are developing in their mud gourds.
Read more about Marsh Haven a bird haven …

factmonster.com Back from winter vacation in Argentina by Gerry Brown They’re on their way. The famous cliff swallows of San Juan Capistrano, that leave town every year in a swirling mass near the Day of San Juan (October 23), are returning from their winter vacation spot 6,000 miles south in Goya, Corrientes, Argentina. They land […]

dailydemocrat.com By Democrat Staff Daily Democrat As farmer Duane Chamberlain watched the swallows in his garage, he checked his calendar. It was March 8, and his barn swallows were back, exactly the same date as last year. < --more--> “How they make their way back from South America, where they spend their winters, to my […]

.birdlife.org
2014 IUCN Red List Category (as evaluated by BirdLife International – the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN): Near Threatened
Family/Sub-family Apodidae
Species name author (Gmelin, 1789)
Taxonomic source(s) Dowsett and Forbes-Watson (1993), Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)
Summary Collocalia francica breeds colonially in caves and lava tunnels3 in Réunion (to France) and Mauritius. In the 1970s, the species was much less common on Réunion than Mauritius4.
Read more about Mascarene Swiftlet – BirdLife Species Factsheet …

hawkeye.ca
Cliff swallows are slender, sleek birds well known for their long migration. Cliff swallows spend their winters in South America and summers in North America. They arrive in or around April. They are very territorial and will always attempt to come back to the same nesting site. The cliff swallow has made a very successful switch from cliffs to manmade structures for nest placement. Increased insect population from modern agriculture and shelter created by manmade structures are two reasons given for this transition. The cliff swallow now faces strong competition from the introduced house sparrow for food and shelter. This may be why their numbers appear to be dwindling. The cliff swallow is a protected species and their arrival is a sign of spring for many.
Read more about Problem Birds: Cliff & Barn Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) …

prbo.org Prepared by: Barrett A. Garrison (bagarris@hq.dfg.ca.gov) California Department of Fish and Game RECOMMENDED CITATION Garrison, B. A. 1998. Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia). In The Riparian Bird Conservation Plan: a strategy for reversing the decline of riparian-associated birds in California. California Partners in Flight. http://www.prbo.org/calpif/htmldocs/riparian_v-2.html SUBSPECIES STATUS: Riparia riparia riparia The Bank Swallow occurs as […]

“Come, summer visitant, attach To my reedroof thy nest of clay, And let my ear thy music catch, Low twitting underneath the thatch, At the gray dawn of day.” birdnature.com SURE harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds, and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of water, […]

accessmylibrary.com
COPYRIGHT 2014 Wilson Ornithological Society

Observations of birds laying eggs in nests of other species are of interest because this behavior, when timed appropriately and directed at nests where parents fail to recognize foreign eggs and offspring, may be the starting point for evolution of interspecific brood parasitism.
Read more about Interspecific egg-dumping by a violet-green Swallow in an active Western Bluebird nest. …