Welcome to the Cliff Swallow Project, now in its 42nd year. Here you can explore recent news about cliff swallows, learn about our current and past research on this bird, get scientific papers resulting from the research, find basic natural history information on cliff swallows, and get answers to frequently asked questions about these birds. We hope this site will provide everything needed to understand this fascinating species and its complex social life.
Among the most highly social land birds in the world, cliff swallows live in large colonies, originally building their gourd-shaped mud nests underneath horizontal ledges on the sides of steep cliffs or canyons throughout much of western North America. Nests are packed tightly together, with up to 6000 nests present in a single colony, although occasionally birds nest as single pairs or in small colonies. More recently, in many areas these swallows have switched to nesting underneath the eaves of buildings or bridges and inside box-shaped highway culverts. Along with this change in nesting sites, the birds have also expanded their range into portions of eastern North America where they were formerly rare or absent.
In 1982, we began a field study of this species in western Nebraska, where many colonies of different sizes can be found and the birds live in perhaps the highest density of anywhere on the continent. Cliff swallows show many remarkable adaptations to a highly colonial life style. The project seeks to understand why the birds live in groups and the causes and consequences of variation in colony size. Research on these questions has allowed us to address fundamental problems in animal behavior and evolutionary ecology.
Learn more about our research, the people involved, and cliff swallows in general!
Among the most highly social land birds in the world, cliff swallows live in large colonies, originally building their gourd-shaped mud nests underneath horizontal ledges on the sides of steep cliffs or canyons throughout much of western North America. Nests are packed tightly together, with up to 6000 nests present in a single colony, although occasionally birds nest as single pairs or in small colonies. More recently, in many areas these swallows have switched to nesting underneath the eaves of buildings or bridges and inside box-shaped highway culverts. Along with this change in nesting sites, the birds have also expanded their range into portions of eastern North America where they were formerly rare or absent.
In 1982, we began a field study of this species in western Nebraska, where many colonies of different sizes can be found and the birds live in perhaps the highest density of anywhere on the continent. Cliff swallows show many remarkable adaptations to a highly colonial life style. The project seeks to understand why the birds live in groups and the causes and consequences of variation in colony size. Research on these questions has allowed us to address fundamental problems in animal behavior and evolutionary ecology.
Learn more about our research, the people involved, and cliff swallows in general!
The Cliff Swallow Project
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