While exploring, I spotted two Barn Swallows perched on the roof of a small boat's cabin. Afraid of disturbing them, I crouched on the slope of the landing, hiding behind the pier's platform to snap photos in secret. I felt like a total paparazzi! LOL!
The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread swallow species in the world, found across Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Because of its prominence, it has been honored as the National Bird of both Austria and Estonia.
While Barn Swallows are mostly monomorphic (males and females look very similar), they possess striking features. They feature a dark blue back with a brilliant metallic sheen, a reddish-brown forehead and throat, and a bold black breast band. Their undersides are typically white, though some individuals have a light brown tint. Their most iconic feature is the deeply forked tail. A male’s breeding success is directly tied to the length of his tail streamers. Females find longer streamers more attractive, and for good reason—males with longer tail feathers generally live longer and are more resistant to disease.
Juveniles are easily distinguished by their shorter tail feathers, pale feather edges on their backs, and an incomplete black breast band tinged with brown.
You will often see them swarming in the air to catch flying insects or perching in long rows on power lines.
They are famous for building open, cup-shaped nests made of mud, which they skillfully attach to the eaves of houses or other man-made structures.
有一天我看到這兩隻家燕停在一條小船的船棚上。我怕驚擾到它們，我便站在下船處的斜坡上，躲在碼頭後邊，偷照它們。感覺自己像個十足的狗仔隊！哈哈！
家燕是世界上分佈最廣的燕子種類，遍佈歐洲、亞洲、非洲和美洲。由於其顯著的地位，它被奧地利和愛沙尼亞尊為國鳥。
雖然家燕大多是單型鳥（䧳雄同型)，但它們也具有一些引人注目的特徵。體上暗藍、具金屬光澤，前額和喉部呈紅褐色，前胸有一黑胸帶。腹及翼下白（有些個體略沾淺褐色）。它們最顯著的特徵是深叉狀的尾巴。雄性家燕的繁殖成功率與其尾羽的長度有直接關係。雌性喜歡尾羽較長的雄性，這也不難理解——尾羽較長的雄性通常壽命更長，也更不容易生病。
幼鳥很容易辨認，它們的尾羽較短，體背具淡色羽緣，黑胸帶不完整且帶褐色。
常成大群盤旋空中捕食小型飛蟲，喜停棲在電線上。
它們以建造用泥土製成的開放式杯狀巢穴而聞名，並能巧妙地將這些巢穴固定在房屋或其他人造建築物的屋簷上。
Notes 筆記
- The barn swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
- The adult male barn swallow has steel blue upperparts and a rufous forehead, chin and throat, which are separated from the off-white underparts by a broad dark blue breast band. The outer tail feathers are elongated, giving the distinctive deeply forked “swallow tail”. The female is similar in appearance to the male, but the tail streamers are shorter, the blue of the upperparts and breast band is less glossy, and the underparts paler. The juvenile is browner and has a paler rufous face and whiter underparts.
- The preferred habitat of the barn swallow is open country with low vegetation, such as pasture, meadows and farmland, preferably with nearby water.
- The barn swallow is not a particularly fast flier. The barn swallow typically feeds in open areas above shallow water or the ground often following animals, humans or farm machinery to catch disturbed insects, but it will occasionally pick prey items from the water surface, walls and plants. In the breeding areas, large flies make up around 70% of the diet, with aphids also a significant component.
- The male barn swallow returns to the breeding grounds before the females and selects a nest site. The breeding success of the male is related to the length of the tail streamers, with longer streamers being more attractive to the female. Males with longer tail feathers are generally longer-lived and more disease resistant.
- Both sexes defend the nest, but the male is particularly aggressive and territorial. Once established, pairs stay together to breed for life, but extra-pair copulation is common, making this species genetically polygamous, despite being socially monogamous. Males guard females actively to avoid being cuckolded. Males may use deceptive alarm calls to disrupt extrapair copulation attempts toward their mates.
- As its name implies, the barn swallow typically nests inside accessible buildings such as barns and stables, or under bridges and wharves.
- The neat cup-shaped nest is constructed by both sexes using mud, although more often by the female.
- The barn swallow is the national bird of Austria and Estonia.
- 家燕是世界上分佈最廣泛的燕子，在歐洲，亞洲，非洲和美洲都看得到它。
- 成年雄性家燕有鋼藍色的上半身和紅褐色的額頭、下巴和喉嚨，有寬的深藍色胸帶區分灰白色的下半身。外尾羽偏長，形成獨特的深叉“燕尾”。雌性的外觀與雄性相似，但尾巴較短，上部的藍色和胸帶的光澤較暗，下部的顏色較淺。雛鳥是棕褐色，臉是紅褐色，下半部較白。
- 家燕的首選棲息地是植被稀少的開闊地帶，例如牧場，草地和農田，最好是附近有水。
- 家燕並不是飛得特別快。家燕通常在淺水或地面上方的空曠地區覓食，通常跟著動物、人或農業機械來捕獲受這些人或物攪擾的昆蟲，但有時會在水面、牆壁和植物上採食獵物。在繁殖區，70％吃大果蠅，蚜蟲也是食物的重要部分。
- 雄性家燕比雌性燕子更早返回繁殖地並選擇巢穴。雄性的繁殖成功與燕尾的長度有關，較長的燕尾對雌性更具吸引力。尾羽較長的雄性通常壽命更長，更耐病。
- 雄性和雌性都會捍衛巢穴，但是雄性更具有侵略性和領土性。一旦成對，它們會生活在一起終生繁殖，但是與其它對交配也很常見，儘管它們在社會上是社交單配偶一夫一妻制，但從遺傳學上來看仍是一夫多妻的。雄性積極地保護雌性，以免被戴綠帽。雄性可能會使用欺騙性的警報叫聲來破壞別的燕對自己伴侶的試圖交配。
- 顧名思義，家燕通常築巢在容易進入的建築物內，例如穀倉和馬廄，或者在橋樑和碼頭下。
- 整齊杯子形狀用泥做的巢，是由雌雄兩性建造的，但大多數情況下是由雌性造的。
- 家燕是奧地利和愛沙尼亞的國鳥。
References 參考資料
- Wikipedia: Barn swallow
- All about birds: Barn Swallow
Birds Posts 鳥的帖子
Comments