Bird

Cliff Swallow

Petrochelidon pyrrhonota

A summer resident that nests in North Carolina. Found in all 100 counties, across 13 habitats.

Here: Summer and on migration
Nesting: Nests here
Range: All 100 counties
Habitats: 13

Adult Cliff Swallow, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Stefan Wolmarans, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 458012327. 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: 13
Habitat models: Summer

Where it lives

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

Habitats in North Carolina 13

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

1 of 13

SummerSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Forest Modifier; Southern Piedmont Large Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier; Central Interior and Appalachian Floodplain Systems; Central Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; Southern Piedmont Small Floodplain and Riparian Forest; South-Central Interior Small Stream and Riparian; South-Central Interior Large FloodplainNamed 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.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Riparian Systems; South-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.

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Swamp Systems; Southern Piedmont/Ridge and Valley Upland Depression SwampNamed place / source context. Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretationView, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

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

SummerUnconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune)

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

Mountain bogs and fens

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

Summer

Wet meadows

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

SummerCentral Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems

SummerOnly within 2,000 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 2,000 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.

Dry forests and woodlands

Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.

SummerOnly within 2,000 m of water.Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland

Forest edges and thickets

Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.

SummerOnly within 2,000 m of water.Disturbed/Successional - Shrub Regeneration; Harvested Forest - Shrub Regeneration

Other habitats in its models (63)

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 2,000 m of water.

Elsewhere in the South (28)

Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer.
Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer.
Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Cumberland Riverscour Summer.
East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Nashville Basin Limestone Glade Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer.
South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Southern Interior Acid Cliff Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.

Northeast (5)

North-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
Northeastern Interior Pine Barrens Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Basin Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest Summer.

Midwest (8)

Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
North-Central Oak Barrens Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.

Land cover and other classes (21)

Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer.
Developed, Low Intensity Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Developed, Medium Intensity Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer.
Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer.
Recently Burned Grassland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
Recently Burned Shrubland Summer, only within 2,000 m of water.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer.
Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer.
Western Great Plains Depressional Wetland Systems Summer.
Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.

All habitats

Seasons in North Carolina

Migratory: does not nest here, in 46 of 100 counties.
Summer: nests here, in 69 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.