Category: Articles

en.wikipedia.org
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The bird genus Hirundo is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). These are the typical swallows, including the widespread Barn Swallow. Many of this group have blue backs, red on the face and sometimes the rump or nape, and whitish or rufous underparts.
All of the species are found in the Old World, although one, the Barn Swallow, is cosmopolitan, also occurring in the Americas.
Genetic evidence has recently shown that many of the species previously included in Hirundo are less closely related than their appearance might suggest; these species are now treated in the separate genera Cecropis (e.g. Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica, previously Hirundo daurica) and Petrochelidon (e.g. Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota, previously Hirundo pyrrhonota); they are as distinct from typical Hirundo as the House Martins in the genus Delichon.
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personal.umich.edu

Authentic bird’s nest soup is made using the nests of the swiftlet, a tiny bird found throughout southeast Asia. The swiftlet lives in dark caves, using a method of echolocation similar to the bat to get around. Instead of twigs and straw, the swiftlet makes its nest from strands of its own gummy saliva, which hardens when exposed to air. Humans who harvest the swiftlet nests often come from families that have made their living this way for generations. Prying the nests from the cave walls is extremely dangerous, and many harvesters die each year.
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nanfa.org
By Carol E. Johnston
      Center for Biodiversity, Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, Illinois
      reprinted from American Currents, Feb. 1989
Read more about Nest -Building Minnows …

Rhinelander Daily News, WI – 3 hours ago
TIGERTON, Wis. – A handful of swallow nests might hold up construction work on a Shawano County bridge indefinitely.

Work on the Tigerton bridge was scheduled to begin Monday. But on Friday the contractor found a number of nests on the structure’s underside, causing a delay until state officials could decide how to work around the federally protected nests.
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wild-bird-watching.com
The Tree Swallow leaves its wintering grounds along the seacoast from the Carolinas to California to begin its season of mating and nesting habits.
Read more about Tree Swallow :Nesting Mating Feeding Habits …

enature.nationalgeographic.com

Cliff Swallows are colonial — that is, they nest in colonies, sometimes numbering in the thousands of birds. In many ways the members of a colony appear to display remarkable social cohesiveness. They work together to mob predators and will even learn from each other where the good food sources are. But if you look closely at a Cliff Swallow colony, you’ll see that this seemingly cooperative community also harbors its share of dastardly misbehavior.
Read more about Putting Your Eggs in Someone Else's Basket …

beheco.oxfordjournals.org Anders Pape Møller Laboratoire de Parasitologie Evolutive, CNRS UMR 7103, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Bât. A, 7ème étage, 7 quai St. Bernard, Case 237, F-75252 Paris Cedex 05, France Address correspondence to A.P. Møller. E-mail: amoller@snv.jussieu.fr. Among bird species in which males contribute to nest building, sexual selection has favored larger nests. I […]

merlejacobs.com Møller (1) found that experimental lengthening the tail of barn swallow males led to earlier mating and therefore an increase in offspring. Since he observed no significant differences in intensity of male-male aggressive encounters among males at the nesting sites he attributed the early mating solely to female choice. This released a flood of […]

By Tanya Dewey Information Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Aves Order: Passeriformes Family: Hirundinidae Genus: Hirundo Species: Hirun Barn swallows are native in all the biogeographic regions except Australia and Antarctica. The breeding range of barn swallows includes North America, northern Europe, northcentral Asia, northern Africa, the Middle East, southern China, and Japan. […]

sfgate.com
Rob Lee
Whether the Giants are winning games in big fistfuls, or can’t produce as much offense as a foul-mouthed grandmother, there’s always a good reason to go to their ballpark. I’m not talking about the starlings foraging in the outfield grass, or the hordes of Western gulls that begin gathering faithfully during the seventh-inning stretch (although the best seats for my proposed entertainment are in the upper deck, with the gulls).
Read more about Swifts,Swallows catch flies(and other thing)at Ball park …