We’ve all heard about the swallows of San Juan Capistrano in California. Every year on or about March 19^th, they arrive back from their winter vacation spot 6,000 miles away in Argentina. The bells of the church will ring and there will be a festival and a parade. They will stay until about October 23^rd when they’ll head back to their winter grounds. Did you know that they are Cliff Swallows? The experts say that the first swallows came to Capistrano in 1776 – how appropriate!

Description:   They are about 5” in length and can be told from all swallows except the Cave Swallow by its pale rump. The only way you can tell the difference is that the Cave Swallow has a darker forehead and a paler throat than the Cliff Swallow. The Cliff Swallow is a stocky swallow with a short square tail. The adult has a white forehead. It must be noted that a Mexican variety has a Rufous forehead.

Habitat:  They forage over fields, meadows and ponds swooping low and high.   

Diet:  They dine almost exclusively on flying insects.

Breeding: They are a monogamous bird and make their nests under bridges, culverts and eaves making nests of mud pellets, but shapes it like a hollow gourd with a hole for the parents to enter and the babies to look out. They nest in colonies of up to 3,500 nests.

Range:  Just about everywhere in the U.S. and all the way to Argentina.