- Hirundo rustica
Identification
17-19cm. Male - Steel blue upperparts, rufous forehead, chin and throat, broad dark blue breast band, off-white underparts. Outer tail feathers are elongated, giving the distinctive deeply-forked "swallow tail." There is a line of white spots across the outer end of the upper tail.
Female - similar with shorter tail streamers, less glossy blue on the upperparts and breast band, underparts more pale.
Juvenile - browner, paler rufous face and whiter underparts, lacks the long tail streamers of the adult.
Distribution
Breeds in six different subspecies in the northern half of the globe. Abundant and widespread throughout the western Palearctic. Breeds from the British Isles, France and Iberia east to the Urals and Caspian. In the north found to 70° N on the Norwegian coast and breeds north to the White Sea in Russia. Breeds on the north Mediterranean coast and most islands, in Turkey and the Caucasus, across North-West Africa and in the Nile valley but only locally in the Middle East.
Small numbers regularly winter in southern Spain and North-West Africa but the majority of European birds winter in sub-Saharan Africa leaving breeding areas August-October and returning March-May. Middle Eastern and Egyptian birds are largely resident.
Vagrant north to Iceland (has bred), Faroe Islands (may breed annually), Svalbard, Bear Island and Jan Mayen, also on the Azores, these birds may have originated in North America.
Taxonomy
Three races occur in Western Palearctic, separable in the field. Nominate race is found over most of range, replaced by transitiva in southern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon, Israel and western Jordan, with pinkish to orange underparts and savignii in Egypt with dark red-brown underparts, both slightly larger than nominate. North American race erythrogaster with reduced breast-band and rusty-buff underparts has possibly been recorded as a vagrant in Iceland.
Habitat
Mainly occurs on farmland with abundant flying insects attracted by livestock and nesting sites in farm buildings. Often breeds in rural villages but rarely in large towns. Highly gregarious on passage and frequently feeds over large water bodies.
Behaviour
Barn Swallows have been studied extensively for what influences sexual selection etc. In short, in Europe a male with long tail streamers seems to do well. In North America, the colour of the underparts, especially the breast area, seems to be important for the breeding success of a male, with dark colour being advantagous (length of tail streamers still probably is important).
The diet includes insects.
It nests inside buildings such as barns and stables, or under bridges and wharves. Usually the female builds the cup-shaped nest, placed on a beam or against a suitable vertical projection. It is made from mud pellets and lined with grasses, feathers or other soft materials. 4-5 reddish-spotted white eggs are laid, and are incubated by the female for 14-19 days; the young fledge 18-23 days later.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Hirundo rustica (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
