Description

Voice

Constant liquid twittering and chattering.

Habitat

Agricultural land, suburban areas, marshes, lakeshores.

Nesting

4-6 brown-spotted, white eggs in a solid cup of mud reinforced with grass, lined with feathers and soft plant material, and placed on a rafter in a building or on a sheltered ledge.

Other

The great majority of these birds now nest on or in buildings, but originally they used rocky ledges over streams and perhaps attached their nests to tree trunks in the shelter of branches (as do related species in Africa). Barn Swallows perform long migrations; some that breed in North America winter as far south as Argentina. Like other swallows, they migrate by day, often feeding as they travel. They are swift and graceful fliers; it is estimated that they cover as many as 600 miles a day in quest of food for their young.

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