.floridaconservation.org
The Barn Swallow, with its long, deeply forked tail, is the most widely distributed swallow in the world. The North American population breeds from southern Alaska and Canada to Mexico. The birds winter from Panama to South America.
Barn Swallows are found throughout Florida during migration. They are a local and increasingly common breeder across north Florida and breed in smaller numbers southward to south Florida (Stevenson and Anderson 1994).
Habitat. Barn Swallows inhabit open country, especially near water, where suitable nesting sites are available. Their diet consists primarily of small flying insects taken on the wing. Berries and seeds are occasionally eaten.
The Barn Swallow commonly nests in small colonies. Historically it nested in caves and rock crevices, but nesting is now almost exclusively on human-made structures. Throughout most of its range the Barn Swallow nests most commonly inside or under the eaves of buildings, but most colonies in Florida are located in culverts or under bridges over water. Stevenson (1978a) reports that this is the case throughout the Deep South. He suggests that nesting over water offers protection from the high temperatures encountered inside buildings during the summer.
An open cup nest is built of a mixture of mud and straw and is lined with feathers. A clutch consists of 4 or 5 white eggs, spotted with shades of brown. Both parents incubate the eggs, which hatch in about 15 days. The young fledge in 18 to 23 days.
Seasonal Occurrence. The Barn Swallow is a common to abundant migrant throughout the state. Although it has been recorded in every month of the year, it is most common from April to late May and August to October.
Two broods are usually produced each year. Extreme breeding dates given for Florida, 31 May to 11 July, may understate the breeding season (Stevenson and Anderson 1994).
Status. The Barn Swallow is a relatively recent addition to the state’s list of breeding birds. It first colonized the state by moving eastward along the Gulf coast from Alabama. It nested for the first time in the state in Escambia County in 1946 (Weston 1947). A second invasion occurred as the northern breeding population moved southward from Georgia, beginning in the 1970s.
The Barn Swallow has continued to spread throughout the state and has now nested as far south as Key West. It appears to be well established in the western Panhandle but is uncommon in the peninsula, where colonies are widely scattered. Many of the “possible” and “probable” breeding records on the Atlas map undoubtedly refer to late spring or early fall migrants and should not be considered to represent breeding birds.
Sean P. Rowe
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September 22nd, 2006
Birmingham News, AL - Aug 27, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
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.
September 22nd, 2006