Skip to main content Skip to navigation
Home
Today's Show: The Vulture's Iron Stomach
Black Vulture
Listen In
  • Today's Show
  • Listen
    • Daily Shows
    • Threatened
    • Grouse
    • BirdNote Presents
    • How to Listen
  • Explore
    • Field Notes
    • Sights & Sounds
    • Birdwatching
    • Resources for Educators
  • How to Help Birds
    • At Home
    • In Your Community
    • Success Stories
  • About
    • The BirdNote Story
    • The Team
    • Partners
    • For Radio Stations
    • Funding
    • Contact Us
    • FAQs
    • Support BirdNote
  • Donate

Barn Swallows - Splendor in the Back Yard

Pretty -- and they eat a lot of mosquitoes, too!
Subscribe to the Podcast
Download
  • Share This:
  • Share to Facebook
  • Share to Twitter
  • Share to Email
Barn Swallow
© Jutta Geisler G-Graphic Solutions

This lovely creature is a Barn Swallow - notice the rich colors! A genuine master of the air, the swallow swoops low along the ground at high speed, changing direction in the blink of an eye. This prodigy has flown all the way from South America, to offer - without fee - its services as a prolific collector of flying insects, which it vacuums from the air. The Barn Swallow is a common summer visitor.

  • Full Transcript
  • Credits

BirdNote®

Barn Swallows - Splendor in the Back Yard

Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

[Barn Swallows]

One sunny day in May you spy, perched on a fencepost outside, one of the most exquisite birds you’ve ever seen. Its back is a deep, lustrous blue. It turns its head, and you see its face is a rich mahogany with what looks like a blue mask over its eyes. This glamorous specimen, the size of a sparrow, is unusually slender, with long, pointed wings. A final exotic touch: the outer tail-feathers are long and elegant, not unlike those of a swallow-tailed butterfly.

[Barn Swallow rapid song]

Your graceful visitor appears a genuine master of the air, swooping low along the ground at high speed, changing direction in the blink of an eye. She has come all the way from South America, feeding on flying insects as she flew. If you’re lucky, she may build a nest of mud under the eaves of your shed.

[Barn Swallow rapid song]

This marvelous creature is... a Barn Swallow. If it were rare, people would come from many miles away to admire its beauty and grace. But in truth, the Barn Swallow is a common summer visitor here in North America and in Europe and Asia, too. Aren’t we lucky!

[Barn Swallow rapid song]

Sounds of the birds featured today on BirdNote come from The Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

For BirdNote, I’m Mary McCann.

###

Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Barn Swallows recorded by G.A. Keller [105655] and R.S. Little [106593].
BirdNote’s theme was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.

Producer: John Kessler

Managing Producer: Jason Saul

Editor: Ashley Ahearn

Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone

Assistant Producer: Mark Bramhill

Narrator: Mary McCann

© 2019 BirdNote   May 2019

ID#    051707BARS3KPLU         BARS-03c
 

Bob Sundstrom
Writer
Mary McCann
Narrator
Support More Shows Like This
Tagsplumage

Related Resources

Barn Swallow - More at All About Birds

More About These Birds

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica)

Hirundo rustica

Sights & Sounds

Related Field Notes

November 11, 2019

A Trick of the Light . . .

By Mike Hamilton
Anna's Hummingbirds sparkle with iridescence...
September 27, 2018

Female Anna's Hummingbird Preening

By Mike Hamilton
Living year round along the Pacific Coast of the US and into the Southwest, Anna's Hummingbirds a

Birds connect us with the joy and wonder of nature. By telling vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face, BirdNote inspires listeners to care about the natural world – and take steps to protect it.

Support BirdNote

  • Daily Shows
  • Field Notes
  • BirdNote Presents
  • Sights & Sounds
  • About BirdNote
  • Contact BirdNote
Sign up for our newsletter!
  • BirdNote on Facebook
  • BirdNote on Twitter
  • BirdNote on Instagram

Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.

  • Privacy Policy