Barn Swallow
(Hirundo rustica)

Overview

Summary

© Jukka Jantunen
For additional photos and vocalizations, visit Dendroica. (Link opens in a new window.)

Widespread and familiar, the Barn Swallow is closely associated with human habitation and now nests almost exclusively on human-made structures. It is well monitored in Canada by the Breeding Bird Survey, which shows a loss of some 80% of the population since 1970. This population decline has occurred throughout its range in Canada. Causes for the decline remain unclear. Because of this large decline, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada assessed the Barn Swallow as Threatened in 2011 (COSEWIC 2011a). This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

In the 1980s, there was a negative change point in the Breeding Bird Survey population trends of swallows, swifts, and nightjars across most of North America (Smith et al. 2015). Indeed, the Barn Swallow is one of several species of aerial-foraging insectivores showing widespread declines in Canada. Causes of these declines remain unclear, but changes in aerial insect populations have been suggested as one possible common factor as well as landscape changes, the effects of insecticides on prey, and climate change (Blancher et al. 2009, Nebel et al. 2010). Specific to this species, the modernisation of farms and agriculture may have reduced the number of nest sites available to the birds in certain areas. However, the construction of bridges and other infrastructure has increased the number of nest sites in other areas (Brown and Brown 1999). For information on the legal status of this species under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) see the SARA Registry.

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Blancher, P.J., R.D. Phoenix, D.S. Badzinski, M.D. Cadman, T.L. Crewe, C.M. Downes, D. Fillman, C.M. Francis, J. Hughes, D.J.T. Hussell, D. Lepage, J.D. McCracken, D.K. McNicol, B.A. Pond, R.K. Ross, R. Russell, L.A. Venier and R.C. Weeber. 2009. Population trend status of Ontario’s forest birds. The Forestry Chronicle 85(2):184-201.
• Brown, C.R., and M.B. Brown. 1999. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Brown, C.R., and M.B. Brown. 1999. Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• COSEWIC. 2011a. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. ix + 37 pp. COSEWIC. 2011a. COSEWIC Assessment and Status Report on the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. ix + 37 pp. (Link)
• Lepage, D. 2007. Barn Swallow. pp. 398-399 in: Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Ontario, 2001-2005. Cadman, M.D., D.A. Sutherland, G.G. Beck, D. Lepage and A.R. Couturier, Eds. Bird Studies Canada, Environment Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, and Ontario Nature, Toronto, Ontario.
• Nebel, S., A.M. Mills, J.D. McCracken and P.D. Taylor. 2010. Declines of aerial insectivores in North America follow a geographic gradient. Avian Conservation and Ecology 5(2): 1. Nebel, S., A.M. Mills, J.D. McCracken and P.D. Taylor. 2010. Declines of aerial insectivores in North America follow a geographic gradient. Avian Conservation and Ecology 5(2): 1. (Link)
• Smith, A.C., M-A.R. Hudson, C.M. Downes, and C.M. Francis. 2015. Change points in the population trends of aerial-insectivorous birds in North America: Synchronized in time across species and regions. PLOS ONE 10(7): e0130768. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130768. Smith, A.C., M-A.R. Hudson, C.M. Downes, and C.M. Francis. 2015. Change points in the population trends of aerial-insectivorous birds in North America: Synchronized in time across species and regions. PLOS ONE 10(7): e0130768. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130768. (Link)