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Barn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
Family: Hirundinidae (Swallows)
Description: Their long tail is deeply forked - almost shaped like a "U" within a "V." Long pointed wings, small feet, and a short bill. Cinnamon-orange underparts, glossy steel blue back, and a thin dark band under the rusty-colored throat. The female is duller.

Best known of Swallows as it has adapted to live directly with humans. Very agile flyers, the Barn Swallow is known to zigzag like crazy to scoop insects mid-flight with its short bill opened wide. They can drink by scooping up water from lakes or rivers as they fly with their mouth open .

Nesting: Just like Robins, Swallows use mud to hold their nest together. Its nest is a feather-lined cup of mud pellets mixed with grass often found plastered to walls, sheltered under eaves, bridges, in barns and even on moving boats! Both the male and female incubate the nest in the daytime, taking turns about every 15 minutes. At night, the female incubates, with the male perched nearby. They have 1 to 2 broods of about 4 - 5 eggs each.

Range: (April - September) They migrate to Central or South America in the winter. The Barn Swallow winters throughout the entire continent of South America up as far as Costa Rica in the north. In fact, the Barn Swallow is one of three species (with the Bank Swallow and Blackpoll Warbler) seen in every South American country. It is also the champion Nearctic Neotropical migrant land bird, with a high population in Tierra del Fuego. Swallows commonly migrate in flocks through Central America and the Caribbean.
printable field guide compliments of www.neotropicalbirds.org

Size: 6 - 7 inches

Diet: Insects (especially mosquitoes and tiny flies) and berries

Habitat: Fields, farms, waterways, rural and suburban areas - preferring locations where their nest has overhead protection.

Song: Long soft nasal twittering, usually consisting of 2 notes and ending with a rattle or twitter: "queat, vit and zee, zay."
© 2003 by Trust for Wildlife. Developed with Knowledge Environments, Inc.