Scientific name: Hirundo rustica
Nest on or inside farm buildings, under bridges and inside
culverts
Identifying marks: forked tail, reddish-brown thoat,
underparts usually cinnamon or buffy.
Swallows are adept aerialists, darting to catch flying
insects. They occasionally eat berries and seeds.
Flocks perch in long rows on branches and wires.
When they nest, they usually produce 2
broods. Male and female build nest in 7 to 14 days on
buildings, occasionally caves, culverts and under bridges.
Swallows nest in colonies, yearlings from a first clutch
often aid in feeding nestlings. Breeders tend to return to
same colony. Males help incubate eggs. They winter from
lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico and Panama.
More information can be found at these sites:
- Wildlife viewing and photographing
- Greybird Publishing
- NTT World Bird Count
- Homes for birds
- University of Michigan
- Chipper Woods Bird Observatory
- Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University
Special Thanks to Volunteer
Erin Buchanan for helping create this page.
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