Swallow | Bird Identification Guide

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The barn swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is one of the first signs of summer, arriving in the UK from its wintering grounds in Africa to breed, often returning to the same nesting site each year. After the breeding season, swallows gather in large communal roosts, sometimes numbering in the thousands, when they can be seen swirling in the sky or perched on telegraph wires before migrating south for the winter.

Key facts

Scientific name: Hirundo rustica Status: Breeding summer visitor

Breeding birds: 860,000 territories

Conservation status: Green

Family: Swallows

Length: 17 – 19 cm Wingspan: 32 – 35 cm Weight: 16 – 25 g Typical lifespan: 2 years

What do swallows look like?

The adult male swallow has black plumage with a glossy blue sheen on its upperparts and black flight feathers. Its black tail is deeply forked and adorned with long streamers.

On the underparts, the breast and belly are cream, with a dark blue collar across the throat. The underwing flight feathers are dark grey, complemented by cream-coloured coverts, while the undertail coverts are cream with black rectrices. Distinct white patches on the outer rectrices create a white band across the tail.

On the head, the forehead and chin are a vibrant orange-red. The crown and nape are dark blue, while the lores and the area around the eyes are black. The short, thin bill is black, the eyes are black, as are the legs and feet.

The female swallow closely resembles the male, but she has shorter tail streamers and a less pronounced blue collar on the throat.

The juvenile swallow is duller in appearance compared to adults, with a buff-white forehead and chin, and shorter tail streamers.

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How do swallows breed?

The swallow breeds between May and July, producing two or three broods each season. It forms lifelong pair bonds but often mates outside the pair, making it socially monogamous but genetically polygamous.

It builds its nest in sheltered locations, such as under the rafters of buildings, beneath bridges, or on ledges of cliff faces, sometimes forming loose colonies. Both the male and female construct the nest, which is a shallow, open cup made from mud and dried grass. The interior is lined with soft materials like feathers, algae, fresh grass, and plant down.

The clutch typically consists of 4–5 white eggs speckled with reddish-brown markings, which are incubated primarily by the female for 14–16 days. When she leaves the nest to feed, the male may take over incubation in short 15-minute intervals. However, if the female dies, the nest is abandoned.

Chicks are covered in long, grey down and are fed insects by both parents. After two weeks, they begin appearing at the edge of the nest with open beaks. They fledge 20–24 days after hatching but often return to the nest at night, andreach sexual maturity at one year of age.

What do swallows eat?

Swallows feed and drink on the wing, catching insects including flies, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, moths, butterflies and dragonflies. They will often follow tractors to take advantage of disturbed insects.

Where can I see swallows?

Swallows arrive in the UK in March and have departed by October. They can see across the UK in areas where there is a good supply of insects such as near open water, farmland. Before migrating they can often be found near reed beds.

What do swallows sound like?

Frank Roos/xeno-canto

Did you know?

Swallows appear to have used man-made structures for their nests for thousands of years. In Virgil’s Georgics written in 29 BC reference is made to the swallow: Ante garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo (Before the twittering swallow hangs its nest from the rafters).