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The barn swallow will mob intruders such as cats or accipiters that venture too close to their nest, often flying very close to the threat. [60] Adult barn swallows have few predators, but some are taken by accipiters, falcons, and owls. Brood parasitism by cowbirds in North America or cuckoos in Eurasia is rare. [6] [37]
The typical nest is a grass or feather-lined deep closed mud bowl with a small opening at the top, [12] but many Asian house martins leave the top of the nest open. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] David Winkler and Frederick Sheldon believe that evolutionary development in the mud-building swallows, and individual species follow this order of construction.
It is much more urban than the barn swallow, and will nest even in city centres if the air is clean enough. [14] It is more likely to be found near trees than other Eurasian swallows, since they provide insect food and also roosting sites. This species does not normally use the reed-bed roosts favoured by migrating barn swallows. [16] [17]
Mud-nesting species in particular are limited in areas of high humidity, which causes the mud nests to crumble. Many cave-, bank-, and cliff-dwelling species of swallows nest in large colonies. Mud nests are constructed by both males and females, and amongst the tunnel diggers, the excavation duties are shared, as well.
This martin nests under a cliff overhang or on a man-made structure, building a neat half-cup mud nest with a soft lining. Both adults incubate the two to four eggs and feed the chicks. This species does not form large breeding colonies, but it is more gregarious outside the breeding season.
The bird genus Hirundo is a group of passerines in the family Hirundinidae (swallows and martins). The genus name is Latin for a swallow. [1] These are the typical swallows, including the widespread barn swallow. Many of this group have blue backs, red on the face and sometimes the rump or nape, and whitish or rufous underparts. With fifteen ...
The cliff swallow or American cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) is a member of the passerine bird family Hirundinidae, the swallows and martins. [2] The generic name Petrochelidon is derived from the Ancient Greek petros meaning "stone" and khelidon (χελιδών) "swallow", and the specific name pyrrhonota comes from purrhos meaning "flame-coloured" and -notos "-backed".
The genus Ptyonoprogne is closely related to the larger swallow genus Hirundo into which it is often subsumed, but a DNA analysis showed that a coherent enlarged genus Hirundo should contain all the mud-builder genera. Although the nests of the Ptyonoprogne crag martins resembles those of typical Hirundo species like the barn swallow, the DNA ...