Species: Riparia riparia

Bank Swallow
Species
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Passeriformes

    Family

    Hirundinidae

    Genus

    Riparia

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Andorinha-do-Barranco - Golondrina Ribereña, Golondrina Zapadora - hirondelle de rivage
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Perching Birds
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Passeriformes - Hirundinidae - Riparia - See Sheldon and Winkler (1993) for information on intergeneric phylogenetic relationships of Hirundininae based on DNA-DNA hybridization.
    Migration
    false - false - true - Most foraging flights are within 0.8 kilometers of colony (Stoner and Stoner 1941).
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Diet is mainly flying insects (e.g., beetles, mosquitoes, winged ants, flies, moths). Insects are caught in the air over fields, wetlands, water, etc. If necessary, individuals may forage up to several kilometers from the nesting area, but usually closer.
    Reproduction Comments
    Clutch size is 2-8 (usually 4-5). Incubation, by both sexes, lasts 12-16 days (Terres 1980). Young are tended by both sexes, leave nest when 18-22 days old, return to burrow for a few days after first flight, remain dependent on parents for about 5 days after fledging. Some birds have two broods per year in some areas (not in north). Most individuals live for only one or a few years.Colony size varies; largest colonies often are in artificial sites; colonies may reach at least several hundred pairs.
    Ecology Comments
    Bank swallows may form flocks of 100s or 1000s prior to fall migration.<br><br>Inclement weather and resulting scarcity of food may be important factors in nestling mortality in some years; erosion of nest sites and predators also sometimes destroy nests (Turner and Rose 1989).
    Length
    13
    Weight
    15
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    2009-03-20
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-12-02
    Other Status

    LC - Least concern

    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S5&CA.BC=S4&CA.LB=S3&CA.MB=S4&CA.NB=S3&CA.NF=S3&CA.NT=S3&CA.NS=S3&CA.ON=S4&CA.PE=S4&CA.QC=S4&CA.SK=S5&CA.YT=S5&US.AL=SH&US.AK=S5&US.AZ=__&US.AR=S2&US.CA=S2&US.CO=S5&US.CT=S5&US.DE=S2&US.DC=__&US.FL=__&US.GA=S3&US.ID=S5&US.IL=S5&US.IN=S4&US.IA=S5&US.KS=S2&US.KY=S3&US.LA=__&US.ME=S5&US.MD=S3&US.MA=S5&US.MI=S5&US.MN=SNR&US.MS=S1&US.MO=SNR&US.MT=S5&US.NN=__&US.NE=S5&US.NV=S3&US.NH=S3&US.NJ=S4&US.NM=S2&US.NY=S5&US.NC=S1&US.ND=SNR&US.OH=S4&US.OK=S2&US.OR=S4&US.PA=S4&US.RI=S3&US.SC=__&US.SD=S3&US.TN=S3&US.TX=S2&US.UT=S4&US.VT=S5&US.VA=S3&US.WA=S4&US.WV=S2&US.WI=S4&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Breeding range in North America extends from western and central Alaska eastward across Canada to the southern Hudson Bay region, Labrador, and Newfoundland, and south to central California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and North Carolina, and disjunctly to southern Texas and adjacent northeastern Mexico (northern Veracruz, northeastern San Luis Potosí, and extreme northern Coahuila) (Howell and Webb 1995, AOU 1998, Garrison 1999). In Eurasia, breeding extends from the Hebrides, Orkneys, northern Scandinavia, northern Russia, and Siberia south to the Mediterranean, Palestine, Iran, Afghanistan, northern India, southeastern China, and Japan (AOU 1998, Garrison 1999). Irregular breeding occurs south of these areas.<br><br>During the northern winter, the range in the Americas is mainly from eastern Panama southward, east of the Andes, to northern Argentina, Paraguay, and northern Chile, casually north to souithern California; also along Pacific slope of southern Mexico and in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands; and in the Old World from the Mediterranean, Near East, northern India, and eastern China south to eastern Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, southern India, Southeast Asia, Borneo, and the Philippines (AOU 1998, Garrison 1999). See Turner and Rose (1989) for further details.
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101769