Barn swallow

About

The Barn swallow is a bird 17–19 cm long including the tail. The upper body is blue-black with a metallic sheen, the forehead and throat are brick-red, and the belly is light. The tail is deeply forked, with two long, thin outer feathers—these are longer in males.

Almost its entire life, the Barn swallow is spent in the air: it catches flies, mosquitoes, and wasps on the wing and drinks while flying, skimming its beak across the water. Before rain, insects stay low to the ground, and the swallows follow them down—hence the folk saying.

In the Carpathians, the Barn swallow lives everywhere there are villages, hamlets, and livestock, hunting over meadows, pastures, and water. The nest is an open cup made of clumps of wet earth, bound with saliva and grass, built inside structures: in stables, barns, under awnings, and on beams. The birds return to the same nest year after year.

The House swallow often lives nearby. It is easy to distinguish: it has a white throat, white underparts, and a short tail, and it builds its nest outside, under the eaves, which is closed with a small entrance hole.

Swallows arrive in April and gather in flocks on wires in September before migrating for the winter to Africa south of the Sahara.

Where in the Carpathians

Teal — roughly where the species can occur, by elevation and habitat; orange — where naturalists recorded it (GBIF, CC0/CC BY).

Range: elevation belt and the countries where it is known — our model (AWS Terrain Tiles)

Countries

Ukraine · Czechia · Slovakia · Poland · Romania · Hungary · Serbia · Austria · BG

Mountain ranges

nearly all Carpathian ranges, within its elevation belt

Altitude belts

Foothills (below 600 m)

When to see it

From naturalists’ observations in the Carpathians (iNaturalist, research grade): the darker the cell, the more often the species is seen that month.

Protection and rules

Not listed in the Red Book of Ukraine. It is prohibited to destroy nests.

FAQ