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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Hirundo rustica
Barn Swallow

 
Scientific Name: Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758
English Name: Barn Swallow
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-BASW
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Passeriformes Hirundinidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S4B (Mar 2022)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status: Special Concern (May 2021)
SARA Schedule: 1  -  Threatened (Nov 2017)
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Clutch size is usually 4-5. Incubation lasts 13-17 days (less often 11-19 days), mainly or totally (e.g., in Europe) by female. Often 2 broods, except in far north. Young are tended by both adults, fledge at 18-23 days, stay together and are fed by parents for about a week. Females first breed at 1 year, a few males remain unpaired until 2 years old. Adults often have same mate in successive years (Shields 1984). Juveniles may help feed young of second brood.
Global Ecology Comments: Nonbreeding: may form flocks of up to thousands.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Arrives in much of U.S. in April, Alaska in May (Terres 1980). Common migrant in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Migrates through Costa Rica mainly early to mid-August through October and early March-late May or early June (Stiles and Skutch 1989). In South America mainly August to May (though some may linger throughout year) (Hilty and Brown 1986, Ridgely and Tudor 1989). See Turner and Rose 1989 for information on Old World migrations.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence) 		Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Facultative - frequent use
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Facultative - frequent use
Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Facultative - frequent use
Anthropogenic / Industrial / Facultative - frequent use
Anthropogenic / Urban/Suburban / Facultative - frequent use
Forest / Conifer Forest - Dry / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Conifer Forest - Mesic (average) / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Conifer Forest - Moist/wet / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Deciduous/Broadleaf Forest / Facultative - occasional use
Forest / Mixed Forest (deciduous/coniferous mix) / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Antelope-brush Steppe / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Grassland / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Sagebrush Steppe / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Shrub - Logged / Facultative - occasional use
Grassland/Shrub / Shrub - Natural / Facultative - occasional use
Lakes / Lake / Facultative - frequent use
Lakes / Pond/Open Water / Facultative - frequent use
Other Unique Habitats / Estuary / Facultative - occasional use
Riparian / Gravel Bar / Facultative - occasional use
Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - occasional use
Riparian / Riparian Herbaceous / Facultative - occasional use
Riparian / Riparian Shrub / Facultative - occasional use
Stream/River / Stream/River / Facultative - frequent use
Wetland / Bog / Facultative - frequent use
Wetland / Fen / Facultative - frequent use
Wetland / Marsh / Facultative - frequent use
Wetland / Swamp / Facultative - frequent use
Global Habitat Comments: Open situations, less frequently in partly open habitats, frequently near water (AOU 1983). Wintering concentrations often associated with sugar cane fields (Hilty and Brown 1986, Ridgely and Tudor 1989). Nests in barns or other buildings, under bridges, in caves or cliff crevices, usually on vertical surface close to ceiling. Commonly reuses old nests. Usually returns to same nesting area in successive years; yearlings often return to within 30 km or closer to natal site (Turner and Rose 1989, Shields 1984).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Flies over open land and water and forages on insects; forages nearer to the ground than other swallows (usually not greater than 10 meters and often less than 1 meter above the ground) (Brown and Brown 1999). Feeds opportunistically on a wide variety of flying insects; primarily true flies (Diptera), but also beetles, true bugs, leafhoppers, Hymenoptera, dragonflies and damselflies, butterflies and moths, and occasionally grasshoppers and crickets (Beal 1918, Hoskyn 1988). Usually forages within a few hundred meters of nest when breeding. Occasionally may take insects from ground or vegetation; rarely eats berries (Beal 1918).
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 17/ / 19
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: BREEDING: south-coastal and southeastern Alaska, across much of Canada south through much of U.S. to central Mexico; also eastern Buenos Aires province, Argentina, in early 1980s (Ridgely and Tudor 1989); across Eurasia to Mediterranean region, northern Africa, China, Japan. NON-BREEDING: mainly South America, regularly from Costa Rica and West Indies to Tierra del Fuego (but in low numbers south of central Chile and northern Argentina, Ridgely and Tudor 1989); Africa and southern Asia; uncommon in Puerto Rico. Accidental in Hawaii.
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: HAMMERSON, G., REVISED BY S. CANNINGS
Last Updated: Oct 14, 1994
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
Beal, F. E. L. 1918. Food habits of the swallows, a family of valuable native birds. U. S. Department of Agriculture Bulletin 619.
Bent, A.C. 1942. Life histories of North American flycatchers, larks, swallows, and their allies. U.S. National Museum Bulletin 179. Washington, DC.
Brown, C. R., and M. B. Brown. 1999. Barn Swallow (HIRUNDO RUSTICA). No. 452 IN A. Poole and F. Gill (eds.), The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 32pp.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp.
Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
Hagan, J. M., III, and D. W. Johnston, editors. 1992. Ecology and conservation of neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. xiii + 609 pp.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Hilty, S.L. and W. L. Brown. 1986. A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA. 836 pp.
Mitchell, W. A. 1988. Songbird nest boxes. Section 5.1.8, US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. Tech. Rep. EL-88-19. Waterways Expt. Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 48 pp.
Moller, A. P. 1994. Sexual selection and the barn swallow. Oxford. 376 pp.
National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC.
Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin.
Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp.
Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp.
Robbins, C. S., D. Bystrak, and P. H. Geissler. 1986. The Breeding Bird Survey: its first fifteen years. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv. Resource Publ. 157. iii + 196 pp.
Sauer, J.R., and S. Droege. 1992. Geographical patterns in population trends of Neotropical migrants in North America. Pages 26-42 in J.M. Hagan, III, and D.W. Johnston, editors. Ecology and conservation of Neotropical migrant landbirds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.
Sheldon, F. H., and D. W. Winkler. 1993. Intergeneric phylogenetic relationships of swallows estimated by DNA-DNA hybridization. Auk 110:798-824.
Shields, W. M. 1984. Factors affecting nest and site fidelity in Adirondack barn swallows (HIRUNDO RUSTICA). Auk 101:780-789.
Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
Turner, A., and C. Rose. 1989. Swallows and martins an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.
Winkler, D. W., and J. P. McCarty. 1990. Method for transplanting nests of barn swallows. J. Field Ornithol. 61:426-430.
Zink, R. M., S. Rohwer, A. V. Andreev, and D. L. Dittman. 1995. Trans-Beringia comparisons of mitochondrial DNA differentiation in birds. Condor 97:639-649.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Hirundo rustica. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Jun 10, 2026).