Cliff Swallow

Cliff swallows are native to most of North America, although they are more common in the western part of the continent. During the winter they migrate to South America. As their name would suggest they are often found nesting on cliffs. In the past this limited their range. However cliff swallows have adapted to human civilization and now nest on many man made structure, such as bridges and building overhangs. This has helped them to expand their range and they can now be found in a variety of habitats.

 Cliff swallows eat primarily flying insects which they catch in flight. They usually feed in groups. These groups can consist of a couple of birds or a flock of 100's of birds. Often swallows will follow another bird who has found a good area to hunt.

Cliff swallows usually nest in colonies. Colonies in western North America tend to be larger than their counterparts in eastern North America. Both male and female build the nest which is made from mud. They will typically have 1 to 2 broods of chicks per year depending on where in the range their nest is located. Some swallows will lay eggs in other nests in the colony. 

My World: Celebration Park

Another location in the Snake River Birds of Prey NCA that we stopped at was Celebration Park.

Celebration Park was established in 1989 and is Idaho's only archaeological park. The park is situated on the banks of the Snake River and was the wintering grounds for the Paiute Indians. Rock face petroglyphs, drawn by Native Americans some 12,000 years ago, are the reason why the park was established.Unfortunately we did not have very much time, only a day and a half total in Idaho, so I did not have enough time to go and photograph the petroglyphs. Instead I spent most of my time at Celebration Park doing what I usually do, photographing the flora and fauna.

The thing that I photographed the most at Celebration Park were the Bullock's orioles. This was another new life bird that we photographed on this trip.

The area was very beautiful so I did stop photographing the birds long enough to get a few scenic shots.

Another new life bird that we photographed on this trip was the California quail. We found these birds in quite a few locations around Snake River.

There were also western meadowlarks singing in the fields surrounding the park. I have photographed western meadowlarks before but since we do not see them very often in eastern Minnesota we stopped when ever one was out in the open singing to take some pics.

The river plays an important role in forming the habitat of the park. As you went away from the park the area was very dry with low scraggly vegetation. Near the river, however, it was very green with a lot more trees then could be found else where.

The river itself also provided habitat for some birds. I spotted numerous spotted sandpiper searching the shallows looking for aquatic invertebrates to eat.

There was a bridge with a walking path that crossed over the river but we were not sure that it looked very safe so we decided just to stay on one side.

But the bridge, power lines and other man made structures also helped provide habitat for the local wildlife.
There were plenty of swallows there hunting insects that used the power lines to perch and take a rest. It was interesting because there were only a few barn and tree swallows around and a lot of bank and cliff swallows. We have all these types of swallows in Minnesota but mostly I see a lot of barn and tree swallows and rarely bank and cliff swallows. So it was interesting when birders from the convention showed up and were more interested in the barn and tree swallows. I guess we kind of take for granted the birds that are common in the area that we live.