23AU9557W-SharpenAI-Standard
Framed
The Barn Swallow is a medium-sized songbird (about 15 to 18 centimetres long). Males have a glossy steel-blue back and upper wings, a rusty-red forehead and throat, a short bill and a broad blue breast band above its tawny underbelly.
The male has long tail feathers which form a distinctive, deep fork and a line of white spots across the outer end of the upper tail.
The female’s tail feathers are shorter, the blue of her upper parts and breast band are less glossy, and her underside is paler.
Where it lives
Barn Swallows often live in close association with humans, building their cup-shaped mud nests almost exclusively on human-made structures such as open barns, under bridges and in culverts.
The species is attracted to open structures that include ledges where they can build their nests, which are often re-used from year to year.
They prefer unpainted, rough-cut wood, since the mud does not adhere as well to smooth surfaces.
23AU9557W-SharpenAI-Standard
Framed
The Barn Swallow is a medium-sized songbird (about 15 to 18 centimetres long). Males have a glossy steel-blue back and upper wings, a rusty-red forehead and throat, a short bill and a broad blue breast band above its tawny underbelly.
The male has long tail feathers which form a distinctive, deep fork and a line of white spots across the outer end of the upper tail.
The female’s tail feathers are shorter, the blue of her upper parts and breast band are less glossy, and her underside is paler.
Where it lives
Barn Swallows often live in close association with humans, building their cup-shaped mud nests almost exclusively on human-made structures such as open barns, under bridges and in culverts.
The species is attracted to open structures that include ledges where they can build their nests, which are often re-used from year to year.
They prefer unpainted, rough-cut wood, since the mud does not adhere as well to smooth surfaces.