Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), St Vincent and The Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay (NB), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (NB).
Vagrant to Greenland, Iceland, Russia (Asian), South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, United Kingdom.
Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is 90,000,000 (2010).
American Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) [XC570597]
by Manuel Grosselet from Privanzas Los Mochis Ahome, Sinaloa, Mexico (call, flight call)
American Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) [XC356219]
by Jim Holmes from Maclaran River, Denali Highway (near Cantwell), Matanuska-Susitna, Alaska, United States (call)
Subspecies
Genus often merged with Hirundo, but DNA studies support retention of separate taxa. Variation clinal, birds becoming smaller and darker from north to south, and subspecies intergrade. Status of subspecies ganieri not clear, possibly better merged with nominate. Proposed subspecies hypopolia (from Alaska and western Canada south, inland, to east-central California, northern Utah and north-western Wyoming) and aprophata (southern Oregon) considered to fall within range of variation of nominate. Subspecies minima, described from south-western USA (Arizona), considered synonymous with melanogaster. Has hybridized with Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), and one record with Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor).
The following 4 subspecies are recognised:
pyrrhonota Vieillot, 1817 - Breeds North America from western and central Alaska and Canada (northern Yukon and northern Mackenzie east to northern Manitoba, northern Ontario, southern Quebec, Prince Edward I, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) south to north-western Mexico (north-western Baja California) in western and, in east, to eastern USA (south to western Virginia, south-eastern Pennsylvania, western Connecticut and north-eastern Massachusetts, with scattered local populations farther southern and east). Winters South America.
tachina Oberholser, 1903 - Breeds southern USA (south-western Utah south to central Arizona, central New Mexico and south-western Texas) south to north-western Mexico (Baja California); presumed to winter South America.
melanogaster (Swainson, 1827) - Breeds south-eastern Arizona and south-western New Mexico south to southern Mexico (south to Nayarit and Oaxaca). Winters South America.
ganieri (Phillips, AR, 1986) - Breeds southern USA west of Appalachians (west-central Tennessee south to southern Texas); presumed to winter South America.
BirdLife International Species Factsheet