Barn Swallow
Barn Swallows return!
The diving and darting Barn Swallows overhead have returned to Orange County to breed after spending the winter in the tropics. Watch for their long streaming tail and rusty-orange breast and throat as they devour 60 insects per hour on the wing.
The Barn Swallow is a long slender swallow with glittering blue-black upperparts, a chestnut forehead and throat, and a rich orange breast and belly. The recognizable long tail is deeply forked with long outer streamers. Female and juvenile birds have lighter, duller breasts and have shorter tail streamers.
Their flight is acrobatic and agile, made possible by the elongated wing and tail shape. They are also the fastest of the swallows and have been clocked flying 46 mph!
Swallows are continually in-flight, careening through the sky capturing insects in their wide mouths with short bills as they dive and dart during any daylight hours.
Barn Swallow can eat approximately 60 insects per hour, or up to 850 insects per day. This equates to roughly 25,000 insects per month. They primarily feed on flying insects like mosquitoes, gnats, and other agricultural pests that can include grasshoppers, crickets, dragonflies, beetles, and moths.
Barn Swallows can be seen in mixed flocks of swallow species all sharing the bounty of available airborne insects. These welcome migrating birds show up just as insect populations begin to surge. Once on territory Barn Swallows are very vocal with a song that is an ensemble of musical mutterings, soft churrings, high-pitched squeaks, chitterings and the occasional staccato rattle or buzz.
Barn Swallows first arrive in Orange County in March to breed here and further north, departing by summer’s end to overwinter well south of the US border where insect populations remain abundant year round. Take time to enjoy the aerial acrobatics of this insect devouring high flier while it’s here among us.
