Earlier this year in walks through the wash in Live Oak Canyon I noticed lots of swallows flying about. They are always speed-flying and rarely stationary. I finally got a poor, distant photo of one that was sufficient to at least identify it as a northern rough-winged swallow. Later, I got a better photo.
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| Northern rough-winged swallow on the side of a cliff in the wash in Live Oak Canyon. |
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| Also in Live Oak Canyon, but a little bit closer. |
Later I got photos of swallows out by the Salton Sea.
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| Off Baker Road near the Salton Sea. |
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| Off Hazard Road (near McDonald Road) in Niland. |
It is long bodied with a small head and bill and a forked tail; it is brown above with a dingy throat (a brownish/gray wash) and chest that fades to white. It likes to fly over water where it takes and eats insects in mid-air. They nest in burrows in soil banks, which is where my first photo was taken in Live Oak Canyon.
Are these the same species that return to Capistrano every year?
ReplyDeleteThose are cliff swallows, a different species.
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