BARN SWALLOW 
BREEDING RECORDS 
NESTS OR YOUNG 
@ 1950 — 
A 1900 — 1949 
M BEFORE 1900 
MERCER | 
PAIRS OR SINGING 
MALES 
(June & early July) 
@n195 0 
AZEWELL 
J\ 1900 — 1949 
1 BEFORE 1900 
Fig. 19.—Breeding records for the barn swallow in Illinois. 
know whether the flights are restricted to narrow cor- 
ridors, such as river valleys, or occur on broad fronts. 
A very spectacular flight of barn swallows and other 
species, perhaps numbering tens of thousands of birds, 
was witnessed by Loraine Funk (personal communi- 
cation) on August 10, 1971, near Lake Meredosia. 
The birds were moving ahead of a storm, which may 
have concentrated birds from a large area. 
Many observers record the last barn swallows of 
the year in August or September (Oberholser 1918, 
Clark & Nice 1950, and others), but large numbers 
of barn swallows may be seen in Illinois well into 
October (Fig. 18), especially along major water 
courses, and in 1971 a few were detected as late as 
November 6 on the Chicago lake front. We re- 
corded peak fall populations in the state between 
August 12 and October 9. In southern Illinois, Nel- 
son (1877) noted that barn swallows became abun- 
dant toward the last of August, and our censuses 
also show this pattern (Fig. 18). 
In central and southern Illinois we saw about 
two barn swallows during fall migration (mid-July 
to mid-October) to one in the spring (April and 
May), but in northern Ilinois the massive migration 
22 
of 1968 reversed the ratio, and we saw only 6 
bird in the fall to four in the spring. 
In Missouri, Widmann (1907) observed larg 
aggregations of barn swallows and other species ; 
marshes, where the birds roosted regularly in tf 
fall. Large roosts of barn swallows have not bee 
reported in Illinois, though Nelson (1877) did no 
large groups of barn swallows, cliff swallows, ar 
martins appearing in the evenings in late Augu 
near Cairo. Presumably there was a roost in t 
area, but Nelson gave no description or locatic 
of it. Especially in the Mississippi Valley, we ha 
observed hundreds of swallows resting on cornstal 
during the late evening and early morning. In li 
of marshes, the swallows were apparently using coi 
fields as roosting areas. | 
Winter Records 
There is one winter record for the barn sw 
low in Illinois, two birds observed closely and 
peatedly at the Carbondale Reservoir during 
Christmas count on December 29, 1954 (An 
1955). There is no other evidence that the bi 
actually wintered through in Illinois, and the rec 
should be considered accidental. | 
Food Habits 
Forbes’ (1878) study included only two 5} 
imens of barn swallows, and no significant data 
this species. The only other information on ~ 
food in Illinois, aside from Davis’ (1968) ob 
vations on the feeding of nestlings, as mentio) 
above, is that of Chase (1896) who observed a b 
swallow regurgitate pellets which were compe 
almost entirely of the hard indigestible wing CO 
of very small beetles. There is a great need 
thorough studies of the food habits of this and 
other species of swallows. | 
) 
CLIFF SWALLOW (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) | 
(Fig. 20, 21, 22, and 23) | 
Spring Migration 
A few cliff swallows reach Illinois as earl 
March 29 or the first of April some years, | 
they are not usually seen until mid-April (Oberh: 
1917), and not generally in numbers until late / 
or May (Fig. 24). Cooke & Widmann (1884) fc 
that most of the local breeding population 
returned to the St. Louis area by May 3. I 
appears to be great annual variation in the s} 
populations. In 1968, migrant cliff swallow po) 
tions were high. Censusing in northwestern Ill 
(Fig. 24), we had one count (May 19) of n 
10,000 birds, and about the same time Frank Bel 
