Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is one of the best-known and also most eagerly anticipated birds here, as spring returns to our region with the swallows' return from Africa. The barn swallow is a slender bird that reaches 19 to 22 cm in length mainly thanks to its long tail. We will recognize it by its dark upper side and light underside. Its head, shoulders, back and tail are dark blue in color with a metallic sheen; its very long black wings and the long, deeply forked tail are black. It has a red forehead and throat and a black collar, which is noticeably reddish in young birds. All other parts of its underside, apart from most of the wings and tail, are creamy white. The swallow has a very short beak that opens wide and enables it to catch insects in flight.
The barn swallow is an exceptional flyer that feeds exclusively on insects. It mostly hunts in the air during the day. Near bodies of water you can often observe it picking insects from the water surface, and in bad weather it also hunts insects that rest on walls. Because its diet is tied to insects that are usually active only in the warm part of the year here, the barn swallow flies to warm regions at the approach of winter. There, there is enough of its food to overwinter, and then in spring it returns again to our region.
Here you can observe it from March to October, and it nests in May and June. This species got its name due to its attachment to the countryside, where nowadays it mostly nests under eaves or under ceilings on and in buildings. Originally, the barn swallow was not so strongly tied to human settlements and most often nested in caves. It builds its nest from mud and blades of grass, lining it with feathers. The time it spends gathering material for building or repairing the nest is actually the only time the swallow spends on the ground. For most of its life it tirelessly flies in a constant search of food. After the nesting period, barn swallows often gather into large flocks over marshy areas with extensive reed beds, where they prepare for migration.
