Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis) - 17May2017 and 01Apr2017

Here is one from the Battleship in Wilmington, NC in April, 2017.



Northern Rough-winged Swallows are fairly common in NC but melanistic (dark) ones are not and melanistic swallows making a home in a Chevy pickup tailpipe are even harder to come by.  However, that is what I found at Carolina Beach State Park in May 2017.  The female watched from the boat trailer as the melanistic male made many trips with nesting material into the tailpipe.  I didn't stick around to see what happened when the boater came back after a day on the water and fired up his engine.









Female.... watching her mate live out Darwinian selection.

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