Hirundo rustica
The Barn Swallow, *Hirundo rustica*, is perhaps the most widespread and recognizable swallow species, revered for its elegant, acrobatic flight and association with human dwellings. This slender passerine measures approximately 17-19 cm in length, including its distinctive, deeply forked tail streamers, and boasts a wingspan of 32-35 cm, weighing a mere 16-22 grams. Its upperparts gleam with an iridescent, steel-blue to blue-black sheen, contrasting sharply with a rufous-chestnut forehead and...
Primarily found in open country, agricultural areas, and grasslands near human settlements, often utilizing barns, bridges, and other structures for nesting. Prefers low to moderate elevations.
Exclusively insectivorous, primarily consuming a wide variety of flying insects caught in mid-air, including flies, mosquitoes, beetles, aphids, moths, and bees.
Barn Swallows are highly diurnal and exceptionally aerial, spending much of their day hawking for insects in graceful, acrobatic flight; they typically roost communally at night in dense reed beds or thickets. Males establish and defend small breeding territories around their chosen nest sites th...
The Barn Swallow boasts a nearly cosmopolitan breeding distribution across the Northern Hemisphere, encompassing almost all of North America (excluding arctic tundras), Europe, Asia (south to the Himalayas), and northern Africa. During the Northern Hemisphere autumn, these birds undertake remarka...
Least Concern
- The Barn Swallow undertakes one of the longest migrations of any passerine, with some individuals traveling up to 11,000 km between breeding and wintering grounds. - A single Barn Swallow pair can use up to 1,000-1,500 mud pellets, meticulously gathered one by one, to construct a single nest. -...