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 LC    Cliff Swallow* Id (Atlas):
    Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

Description (10)
Image of Cliff Swallow
 

Other Scientific Names
Hirundo pyrrhonota [Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993)], Hirundo pyrrhonota [AERC TAC (2003)]

Other Names (World)
Cliff Swallow, American Cliff Swallow, North American Cliff Swallow

Family
Hirundinidae (Swallows And Martins)

Size
13 - 15 cm

First Described (Guide)
Vieillot, 1817

Range (Guide)
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.

Population
Estimated population is 90,000,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (86)...)

 
American Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) [XC109954]
     by Andrew Spencer from Saguache Creek, Saguache Co., Colorado, United States (call)

 
American Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) [XC203606]
     by Jonathon Jongsma from Two Moose Lake, Dempster Highway KM 104, Yukon, Canada (song)

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.



References
See References.


Files:
JPG files for Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) - 10 files


More Information

BirdLife International

For more information about the Cliff Swallow see... Show Articles BirdLife International Species Factsheet.


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