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A look at bird migrations as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano

March 21, 2026

Long-distance relationship

Saturday, March 21, is the Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano. The cliff swallows fly from Argentina, one of the longest migrations of any species.

Cliff swallows are one of more than 350 bird species that migrate along the Pacific Flyway. They stay in the Northern Hemisphere from March to October.

There are about 86 species of swallows worldwide. There are eight species of swallows that regularly breed in North America: the bank swallow, barn swallow, cave swallow, cliff swallow, northern rough-winged swallow, purple martin, tree swallow and violet-green swallow.

Cliff swallows are highly social and travel in large flocks. They feed on insects, including flies, bees and some moths. Females lay one to six eggs.

Cliff swallows make nests out of mud pellets that cling to overhangs. The nests also might be lined with grass and feathers.

All swallows are state and federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. It is illegal for any person to take, possess, transport, sell or purchase them or their parts, such as feathers, nests or eggs, without a permit. Active nests with eggs or chicks inside may not be touched or destroyed without a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Cliff swallows traditionally built their nests on vertical cliff faces. With the expansion of road infrastructure they have adopted many bridges, overpasses, and culverts as their colonial nesting sites. They feed in areas near and over water, frequently mixing with other species of swallows.

The barn swallow is the most abundant and widely distributed swallow species in the world. It breeds throughout the Northern Hemisphere and winters in much of the Southern Hemisphere.

Barn swallows once nested in caves throughout North America, but now build their nests almost exclusively on human-made structures. Today the only North American barn swallow population that still regularly uses caves as nest sites occurs in the Channel Islands off the California coast.

Barn swallow parents sometimes get help from other birds to feed their young. These “helpers at the nest” are usually older siblings from previous clutches, but unrelated juveniles may help as well.

Although the killing of egrets is often cited for inspiring the U.S. conservation movement, it was the hat-making trade’s impact on barn swallows that prompted naturalist George Bird Grinnell’s 1886 Forest & Stream editorial decrying the waste of bird life. His essay led to the founding of the first Audubon Society.

According to legend, the barn swallow got its forked tail because it stole fire from the gods to bring to people. An angry deity hurled a firebrand at the swallow, singeing away its middle tail feathers.

The oldest known barn swallow in North America was at least 10 years old, when it was recaptured and released during a banding operation in Maryland.

St. Joseph‘s Day

St. Joseph’s Day and the Return of the Swallows Celebration is an annual return of the famous swallows to Capistrano. This tradition was started by Father O’Sullivan in the 1920s at Mission San Juan Capistrano, and is carried each year on March 19th.

On a mission

Do the swallows still return to Mission San Juan Capistrano? During a remodel in the 1990s, nests were removed from overhangs and the swallows did not return to the mission. To lure the birds back, mission leaders contacted Charles Brown, an ecologist specializing in cliff swallow research at the University of Tulsa.

Brown advised releasing ladybugs for the cliff swallows to feast on, and using speakers to broadcast the birds’ mating call. Neither approach resulted in a flock of birds returning. In phase II of the project, Brown designed a movable wall with replicated nests. He says development in the area, and loss of the birds’ habitat, is the likely culprit for the disruption of the birds’ hunting patterns.

Has it worked? Yes. There currently is a cliff swallows nest in the East Corridor near the Serra Chapel entry, and rough-winged swallows have been spotted nesting in the ruins of the Great Stone Church, a popular spot for the swallows many years ago.

Sources: The Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, NOAA Fisheries, Mission San Juan Capistrano, Pacific Marine Mammal Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

A look at bird migrations as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano Orange County Register

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A look at bird migrations as the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano

Long-distance relationship

St. Joseph‘s Day

On a mission

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