{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Critter Chat","title":"Celebrating Cliff Swallows","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1759,"description":"As one of the first North American birds to be described in our history books, the Cliff Swallow has something to teach us about adaptability and resilience. Migrating to and from South America every year, their long journey back to California in the springtime is celebrated by many. In the Sierra Nevada foothills, they seek horizontal cliff-like structures —man-made bridges and some buildings work just fine for many — as long as mud and water are nearby. A Cliff Swallow must take approximately 900-1200 trips with beak-fulls of mud to form one little nest. Raising their young together in colonies, these quick flying birds have wide mouths to gather as many insects as possible to feed their nestlings. \nIn this episode of Critter Chat, we ponder the Cliff Swallow nests at Walgreens with biologist Emma Cox with The Institute for Bird Populations and take a field trip to Lake Wildwood spillway with Rudy Darling, president of the Sierra Foothills Audubon Society. Our special guest, Paule Castro of KVMR’s ZenTech weighs in with his observations as a part of the newly formed Critter Corps.\nSchool teachers are encouraged to use Critter Chat in their classes with vocabulary words that include colonial, adaptability and migration. \nCritter Chat tells stories of Sierra Nevada wildlife featuring interviews with experts in the field. Critter Chat is locally produced in Grass Valley and is a project of Rational Animal, rational-animal.org\nImage: Cliff Swallow © Photo by Rudy Darling","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/bAvoSvO7ZmF9-jJL6Y5uu7Ocpo000oEw2Syo-GmF1i8/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MDg5/MGViZmExNGNlNDVl/MTI5MjNiNWZlMzJk/OGM4Ny5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}