Bank swallow Riparia riparia
Identification Tips:
Length: 4.75 inches
Tiny bill
Smallest swallow
Dark brown upperparts
White underparts with dark breast band
Rump paler than back and tail
Forked tail
Most often seen flying ...
Bank Swallow
Adult
Similar Species
Northern Rough-winged Swallow has brown wash over throat and chest and lacks a chest band.
Bank Swallow
Riparia riparia
The Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) is a resident nesting bird across most of the United States and Canada. Like other swallows, this species forages on the wing in order to catch flying insects.
Bank Swallow populations are difficult to monitor, because their breeding locations change often, as the swallows abandon degraded banks.
The Bank Swallow is the smallest of the swallows found in South Dakota. Strongly associated with water bodies, they can often be found in colonies of nest burrows numbering up to 1000.
Bank Swallow
(Riparia riparia)
Status: Migrant.
Last recorded on site in 2010
The Patuxent web-site provides more general information about this species.
Bank Swallow
Riparia riparia (Linnaeus)
Status Common in summer. Breeds. It normally appears in the first half of May (average 8 May, earliest 20 April), but migrant flocks are still evident in early June.
BANK SWALLOW OR SAND MARTIN.
[Bank Swallow.]
HIRUNDO RIPARIA, Linn.
[Riparia riparia.] ...
Bank swallows, or sand martins as they are known in Europe and Asia, are one of the few small passerine birds that have an almost cosmopolitan distribution. They migrate between discrete breeding and wintering ranges.
Bank swallow,
Collared sand martin,
European sand martin
Watch video clips from past programmes (4 clips) ...
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia. Historical breeder. Common in spring and fall, rare in late summer in Gulf Coast region. In other regions, fairly common in spring and fall, occasional in summer. Found in open habitats, especially near water.
Bank Swallow
Summer Sighting Information: occasional
Nest on or near Refuge? no
Barn Swallow
Summer Sighting Information: abundant
Nest on or near Refuge? yes ...
Sand Martins (Bank Swallows) derive their name from their habit of excavating nesting tunnels in sandstone, clay or sand banks, which are then lined with grass and feathers for nesting.
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Other food items include fish, snakes, lizards, carrion, hibernating skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale spp.), insects, honeycombs, bees, larvae, and eggs and nestlings of ground-nesting birds such as bank swallows (Riparia riparia) [18,19, ...
Bank Swallow, Riparia riparia
Plain Martin, Riparia paludicola
Congo Martin, Riparia congica
Banded Martin, Riparia cincta
Mascarene Martin, Phedina borbonica
Brazza's Martin, Phedina brazzae
Red Sea Swallow, Petrochelidon perdita ...
Often nest in Bank Swallow colony, where they perch on roots protruding from bank, something Bank Swallows never do.
They also prey on ground-nesting birds (such as bank swallow or sand martin Riparia riparia and burrowing owl Athene cunicularia), lizards, amphibians, carrion, fish, hibernating skunks (Mephitis and Spilogale), insects, including bees and honeycomb, ...
Other American swallows with forked tails are the cliff or eave swallow, which builds the jugshaped nest of mud and clay and feathers; the bank swallow or sand marten, ...
I did see Red-necked Phalaropes, Trumpeter Swans and many ducks. There is a colony of Bank Swallows in a mud bank close to the road. There are Cliff Swallows under many bridges.
Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)
Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota)
Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis)
Purple Martin (Progne subis)
Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor) ...
Other American swallows, all with shallowly forked tails, are the cliff, or eave, swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota), which builds jug-shaped nests of mud and clay lined with grass and feathers; the bank swallow or sand martin, ...
Sand Martin / Bank Swallow ( Riparia riparia )
Scarlet Ibis ( Eudocimus ruber )
Scarlet Macaw ( Ara Macao )
Secretary Bird ( Sagittarius serpentarius )
Senegal Wattled Plover ( Vanellus senegallus )
Sheld Duck ( Tadorna tadorna ) ...
Bank Swallow Riparia riparia: Cape May Point State Park, Cape May, NJ, 14 May
Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica: San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, CA, 01 Jan ...
 See also: Swallow, Burro, Martin, Tree Swallow, Barn Swallow
  
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