Cliff Swallows Nesting

The steep golden cliffs of hardened sand stretch up into the blue sky as hundreds of little feathers flicker about, dashing into and out of holes burrowed into the rock. The chatter of hungry chicks and busy parents begins to fill the dry air, leaving an eerie silence between the bursts of communication that seem to scour the cliff face just as much as the wind. The Cliff Swallow breeds in North America, and is migratory, wintering in western South America from Venezuela southwards to northeast Argentina. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. The bird averages 13 cm (5 inches) long with a tiny bill. The adult Cliff Swallow has an iridescent blue back and crown, brown wings and tail, and buff rump. The nape and forehead are white. The underparts are white except for a red face. The tail is square-ended. Cliff Swallows breed in large colonies. They build conical mud nests and lay 3-6 eggs. The natural nest sites are on cliffs, preferably beneath overhangs, but as with the Eurasian House Martin, man-made structures are now the principal locations for breeding. Female Cliff Swallows are known to lay eggs in and move previously laid eggs into the nests of other birds within the colony. This species has always been plentiful in the west of North America, where there are many natural sites, but the abundance in the east has varied. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=121813