Barn Swallow

How to identify

Field marks

1. Forehead, chin and throat rufous
2. Upperparts steel-blue
3. A single broad, dark blue band across the breast
4. Deeply forked tail, with a row of white patches near the outer tips

Male, female and young

Female is similar, but has shorter tail feathers, weaker blue metallic gloss and a paler belly; juvenile is rufous-tinged, with paler rufous on the face and short tail feathers.

Voice

Usual call is “witt” or “witt-witt”, changing to a loud “splee-plink” when excited or driving off intruders.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: United States, Canada, China

Barn Swallow has been recorded at 6,878 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 215 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Montrose Point Bird Sanctuary, Lincoln Park, ChicagoUnited States21,400 records
2. Point Pelee National ParkCanada18,598 records
3. John Heinz NWR – impoundmentUnited States13,014 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United StatesCanadaChinaUnited KingdomSpainIndiaPortugalThailand

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world, occurring on all continents, with vagrants reported even in Antarctica. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply forked tail. In Anglophone Europe, it is just called the swallow; in northern Europe, it is the only member of family Hirundinidae called a "swallow" rather than a "martin".

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions