Barn Swallow

Hirundo rustica

The barn swallow 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". Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 333,128 times across 179 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Barn Swallow on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 18°C (typically 14 to 23°C, from 50 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 29°N in June to 45°N in August, about 1,700 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.