Texas Barn Swallow Bird

By august barn swallows will begin forming migratory roost and heading southward.
Texas barn swallow bird. The next texas bird that flies into our list is the cute barn swallow also known as mud swallow. There are a couple of distant relatives to these birds in texas namely cliff swallows and cave swallows. Both the adults and young will migrate at the same time. The barn swallow has a nearly cosmopolitan breeding range.
Primary wintering grounds for north american birds is central and south america. Barn swallows often cruise low flying just a few inches above the ground or water. It seems to have adopted humans as neighbors typically placing its nest in barns or garages or under bridges or wharves. Glistening cobalt blue above and tawny below barn swallows dart gracefully over fields barnyards and open water in search of flying insect prey.
Barn swallows once nested in entrances to caves and on cliffs and in tree hollows but now their cup shaped mud nests are built almost exclusively on man made structures and can be found under house eaves in barns and boathouses and under bridges. It occurs as a common breeding bird across much of north america from southeastern alaska across southern canada and south through the united states and much of mexico a o u. Flies make up the majority of. Like the other two members of its genus the barn swallow rapidly expanded its breeding range in texas beginning in the 1960s.
This expansion is. Aerial acrobats barn swallows catch flying insects on the wing. Look for the long deeply forked tail that streams out behind this agile flyer and sets it apart from all other north american swallows. One of our most familiar birds in rural areas and semi open country this swallow is often seen skimming low over fields with a flowing graceful flight.
Indeed it is now rare to find a barn swallow nest in a site that is not manmade. These tiny birds build their nests on bridge muds porches and patios. Americas largest swallow purple martin.