Editing Barn swallow (section)

=== Habitat and range ===

The preferred habitat of the barn swallow is open country with low vegetation, such as pasture, meadows and farmland, preferably with nearby water. This swallow avoids heavily wooded or precipitous areas and densely built-up locations. The presence of accessible open structures such as barns, stables, or culverts to provide nesting sites, and exposed locations such as wires, roof ridges or bare branches for perching, are also important in the bird's selection of its breeding range.<ref name="BWP" />

Barn swallows are semi-colonial, settling in groups from a single pair to a few dozen pairs, particularly in larger wooden structures housing animals. The same individuals often breed at the same site year after year, although settlement choices have been experimentally shown to be predicted by nest availability rather than any characteristics of available mates.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Safran|first=Rebecca J.|date=2007-06-13|title=Settlement patterns of female barn swallows Hirundo rustica across different group sizes: access to colorful males or favored nests?|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00265-007-0366-6|journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology|language=en|volume=61|issue=9|pages=1359–1368|doi=10.1007/s00265-007-0366-6|bibcode=2007BEcoS..61.1359S |s2cid=24784564|issn=0340-5443|access-date=10 June 2021|archive-date=14 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914222544/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-007-0366-6|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Because it takes around 2 weeks for a pair to build a nest from mud, hair, and other materials, old nests are highly prized.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Safran|first=Rebecca Jo|date=November 2006|title=Nest-site selection in the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica: What predicts seasonal reproductive success?|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z06-176|journal=Canadian Journal of Zoology|volume=84|issue=11|pages=1533–1539|doi=10.1139/z06-176|bibcode=2006CaJZ...84.1533S |issn=0008-4301|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

[[File:Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica) juveniles.jpg|thumb|right|''H. r. rustica'' juveniles|alt=A group of juvenile swallow resting in a tree.]]
[[File:BarnSwallowSlowMo960.ogv|thumb|The movement of two swallows in slow motion|alt=See caption]]

This species breeds across the Northern Hemisphere from sea level to {{convert|2700|m|ft|abbr=on}},<ref name=BirdLife>{{cite web |title = BirdLife International Species factsheet: ''Hirundo rustica'' |publisher = BirdLife International |access-date = 6 December 2007 |url = http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=7116&m=1 |archive-date = 15 December 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081215081352/http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=7116&m=1 |url-status = live }}</ref> but to {{convert|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the [[Caucasus]]<ref name=BWP/> and North America,<ref name= umich/> and it is absent only from deserts and the cold northernmost parts of the continents. Over much of its range, it avoids towns, and in Europe is replaced in urban areas by the [[Common house martin|house martin]]. However, in [[Honshū]], Japan, the barn swallow is a more urban bird, with the [[Eastern red-rumped swallow|red-rumped swallow]] (''Cecropis daurica'') replacing it as the rural species.<ref name= Turner/>

In winter, the barn swallow is cosmopolitan in its choice of habitat, avoiding only dense forests and deserts.<ref name=SASOL>{{cite book |title=SASOL Birds of Southern Africa |last= Sinclair |first=Ian |author2= Hockey, Phil|author3= Tarboton, Warwick |location=Cape Town |publisher=Struik |year=2002 |isbn= 978-1-86872-721-6}} p294</ref> It is most common in open, low vegetation habitats, such as [[savanna]] and ranch land, and in Venezuela, South Africa and [[Trinidad and Tobago]] it is described as being particularly attracted to burnt or harvested [[sugarcane]] fields and the waste from the cane.<ref name = Hilty/><ref name = mercy/><ref name = ffrench>{{cite book |last = ffrench<!--this name should not be capitalized--> |first = Richard |title = A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago |edition = 2nd |year = 1991 |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher = Comstock Publishing |isbn = 978-0-8014-9792-6}} p315–6</ref> In the absence of suitable roost sites, they may sometimes roost on wires where they are more exposed to predators.<ref>{{cite journal|author=George, PV|year=1965|title=Swallows ''Hirundo rustica'' Linnaeus roosting on wires|journal=Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society|volume=62|issue=1|page=160|url=https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47953533|access-date=23 December 2017|archive-date=26 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726145627/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/47953533|url-status=live}}</ref> Individual birds tend to return to the same wintering locality each year<ref name= burton/> and congregate from a large area to [[communal roosting|roost]] in reed beds.<ref name=mercy/> These roosts can be extremely large; one in Nigeria had an estimated 1.5 million birds.<ref name=Bijlsma/> These roosts are thought to be a protection from predators, and the arrival of roosting birds is synchronised in order to overwhelm predators like [[African hobby|African hobbies]]. The barn swallow has been recorded as breeding in the more temperate parts of its winter range, such as the mountains of Thailand and in central Argentina.<ref name= Turner/><ref name= Lekagul>{{cite book |last = Lekagul |first = Boonsong |author2=Round, Philip |title = A Guide to the Birds of Thailand |year = 1991 |location=Bangkok |publisher = Saha Karn Baet |isbn = 978-974-85673-6-5}} p234</ref>

Migration of barn swallows between Britain and South Africa was first established on 23 December 1912 when a bird that had been ringed by James Masefield at a nest in Staffordshire, was found in Natal.<ref name=MigrationAtlas>{{cite book |title=The Migration Atlas: Movements of the Birds of Britain and Ireland |publisher=[[T & AD Poyser]] | year=2002 |isbn= 978-0-7136-6514-7 |editor=Wernham, Chris |page = 462 }}</ref> As would be expected for a long-distance migrant, this bird has occurred as a vagrant to such distant areas as Hawaii, [[Bermuda]], Greenland, [[Tristan da Cunha]], the [[Falkland Islands]],<ref name= Turner/> and even Antarctica.<ref name="Korczak-Abshire">{{cite journal |last1=Korczak-Abshire |first1=Małgorzata |last2=Lees |first2=Alexander |last3=Jojczyk |first3=Agata |date=2001 |title=First documented record of barn swallow (''Hirundo rustica'') in the Antarctic |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365362066 |journal=Polish Polar Research |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=355–360 |doi=10.2478/v10183-011-0021-9 |doi-access=free}}</ref>