Barn Swallow

A long-tailed aerial insect hunter and a familiar sign of spring.

A recording has not been added yet. Use the identification notes below for now.

I know this bird · Record a sighting Where to look & how to find it ↓

FIELDCRAFT · FIND WITH CARE

Finding guide

Season first

Choose the season, find the habitat, then watch patiently. Search guidance is not a measure of rarity or conservation status.

When to go: Mainly spring to autumn
Where to start: Scan fields and hedges from public rural roads and paths.
What to do when you arrive: In spring and summer, watch insect-catching birds over fields and water for deeply forked tails and rusty throats. Do not enter farm buildings or approach nests.

Habitat and behaviour reference: BirdWatch Ireland ↗ · The practical steps are editorial advice based on the references, not live sightings.

SPECIES NOTESSpecies notes

How to identify it

Blue-black above with a rusty forehead and throat, dark breast band and pale belly. Adults have long tail streamers; juveniles have shorter tails but retain the throat pattern.

Habitat

Farmland, grassland, hedges and rural woodland edges.

Behaviour

Catches insects in flight and builds mud nests inside sheltered buildings.

When to look

Mainly spring to autumn

Where to look

Scan fields and hedges from public rural roads and paths.

Reference photos do not show every sex, age, season or geographic form; use the identification notes too.

Further reading:BirdWatch Ireland ↗ · BTO · Hirundines and Swift ↗ · Wikipedia ↗

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