Bird

Bank Swallow

Riparia riparia

A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in all 100 counties, across 19 habitats.

Here: Summer and on migration
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 19

Adult Bank Swallow, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) SteveM4560, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 255636632. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Summer and on migration
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 19
Habitat models: Summer

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in North Carolina 19

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 19

SummerSouth-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianNamed place / source context. Shown: Congaree Swamp National Monument floodplain forest, South Carolina; representative illustration, no exact viewpoint, a neighboring state.fallen (uprooted) tree, John Dawson, by1988. Public domain. Source record.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland SystemsRegional / representative. Shown: Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Georgia; representative pond ecosystem, a neighboring state.Georgia pond and emergent wetland, Robert 'Bob' Hynes, 1997. Public domain. Source record.

SummerSouth-Central Interior Small Stream and RiparianFrederic Edwin Church, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina (1865-70): a boulder-strewn mountain river under autumn-coloured ridges. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (Frederic Edwin Church, oil sketch 1865-70; Cooper Hewitt)*Drawing, Autumn Landscape in North Carolina, 1865–70*, Frederic Edwin Church, 1865-1870. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

SummerUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland; Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

Summer

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland; Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Summer

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Mountain bogs and fens

Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.

Summer

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

SummerAtlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.

SummerOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Wet meadows

Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Southern Piedmont Cliff; Southern Appalachian Montane Cliff; Southern Appalachian Rocky SummitWilliam Frerichs, North Carolina Mountain Landscape: rocky bluffs and ledges above a river in the Carolina mountains. Regional view: the painting does not name the exact site. North Carolina mountains (William C. A. Frerichs)*North Carolina Mountain Landscape*, William Charles Anthony Frerichs, c. 1855-1870. Public domain. Source record.

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Southern Appalachian Granitic DomeBald Face above Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, North Carolina: a bare granite dome rising above forest and a still lake (photochrom print, about 1902). Bald Face (Big Bald Face) above Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, Jackson County, North CarolinaBald Face from Lake Fairfield, Sapphire, N.C., Detroit Publishing Co. (photochrom print), c. 1902. Public domain. Source record.

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Developed, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland; Pasture/Hay; Disturbed/Successional - Grass/Forb Regeneration; Utility Swath - Herbaceous; Disturbed, Non-specific; Ruderal Upland - Old FieldLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr)*Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain"*, Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Disturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone

Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Southern Interior Calcareous Cliff

Mountain balds

Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.

SummerOnly within 250 m of water.Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier; Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier

Other habitats in its models (86)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in North Carolina. Those recorded in North Carolina first, the rest by region.

In North Carolina 1

Southern Piedmont Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.

Elsewhere in the South (45)

Appalachian Shale Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer.
Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer.
Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Central Interior Highlands Dry Acidic Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Cumberland Riverscour Summer.
Cumberland Sandstone Glade and Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Dry Chalk Bluff Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer.
Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
Florida Dry Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Summer.
Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer.
Louisiana Beach Summer.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer.
Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Ridge and Valley Calcareous Valley Bottom Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer.
South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer.
South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer.
Southeast Florida Beach Summer.
Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer.
Southern Interior Acid Cliff Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Southwest Florida Beach Summer.
Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer.
Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.

Northeast (7)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer.
Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
North-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 250 m of water.
North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.

Midwest (7)

Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer, only within 250 m of water.
North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 250 m of water.
North-Central Oak Barrens Summer, only within 250 m of water.

Land cover and other classes (26)

Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Barren Land Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Developed, Low Intensity Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer, only within 250 m of water.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer.
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer.
Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Recently Burned Grassland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Recently Burned Shrubland Summer, only within 250 m of water.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Summer, only within 250 m of water.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer.
Unconsolidated Shore Summer.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Migratory: does not nest here, in all 100 counties.
Summer: nests here, in 2 of 100 counties.

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in North Carolina, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.

Bank Swallow uses many habitats in North Carolina; these are its 3 most characteristic.