Cliff Swallows - Newbury, MA - May 30, 2011

Seeing Cliff Swallows flying above one of the many small streams in Newbury caused me to stop and take a closer look. With the birds flying under the bridge I decided to look closer and found several quietly building their nests for this years batch of youngsters.

The brief video below shows the pair adding "real estate" to their soon to be completed nest.

Cliff Swallows - Newbury, MA - May 30, 2011 from Phil Brown on Vimeo.

One mouthful at a time they bring the mud to the nest, placing the current beak-full on top of the last. That's a lot of trips!

You can see the recent work outlined as darker mud in the image above. This nest just needs an entrance hole like the one shown below and it's ready for eggs.