Attracting Cliff Swallows to New Sites

Top left: Conway, MA: At this site we played recordings of Cliff Swallow calls (bottom left), created a mud source, and installed artificial clay nests. Cliff Swallows visit the site regularly but do not stay to nest. Top right: Fort Lawrence National Park (Parks Canada), New Brunswick, 2018: Seven artificial clay nests were installed but Cliff Swallows did not nest. There is an active colony adjacent to this site. 

We have attracted Cliff Swallows to a previously-unused site only at our pilot study site and note that Cliff Swallows abandoned our site after 2018 (bottom right). At other sites that previously did not have Cliff Swallows we saw similar results; at one, Cliff Swallows visited the site but did not nest. At the others Cliff Swallows were not successfully attracted, even as visitors. There may be habitat factors that are important or adverse to swallows that we can't detect at these sites. We have had the most success attracting Cliff Swallows to existing active sites and to recently-abandoned sites, and it is at these types of locations that we focus our efforts.