Barn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
A single Barn Swallow can consume up to 60 insects per hour, totaling roughly 850,000 insects per year.
- Scientific name
- Hirundo rustica
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Passeriformes › Hirundinidae › Hirundo
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Open country, meadows, marshes, and agricultural lands, typically near water and man-made structures.
- Diet
- Aerial insectivore; primarily flies, beetles, wasps, and moths caught mid-air.
- Range
- North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, South America
- Size
- 15-19 cm length, 29-32 cm wingspan
- Lifespan
- 4 years on average
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Intensive agriculture, pesticide use reducing prey availability, and loss of traditional nesting sites.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless and beneficial. Observe their aerial acrobatics from a distance. If nesting on your property, avoid disturbing the nest until the fledglings have departed in late summer.
The barn swallow ( Hirundo rustica ) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. In Anglophone Europe it is just called the swallow ; in Northern Europe it is the only common species called a "swallow" rather than a "martin".
Photo: Donald Davesne, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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