In an article published this month in Current Biology, Mary
Bomberger Brown and Charles R. Brown found that their 30-year study of
cliff swallows in southwestern Nebraska revealed a significant relationship
between human activity and the evolution of the birds’ bodies.

Cliff swallows living and building nests near highway
overpasses and bridges have a better chance of avoiding cars and trucks than in
the past because of a shorter wingspan that now helps them dodge those
approaching vehicles. Read more at Today@UNL.

Charles R. Brown is the author of Swallow Summer in which he writes about his treks to the Cedar
Point Biological Station in western Nebraska to learn more about the behavior
of colonial cliff swallows. He, his wife, and several student assistants spent
the summers observing, catching, and banding swallows to determine life span,
migration patterns, and nesting habits.

Swallow Summer was
in the 1998 Top Ten Animal Books of the Year, sponsored by Booklist Magazine.