25-11-2016 INLE LAKE, MYANMAR - BARN SWALLOW (Hirundo rustica)

The Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. In fact, it has the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerines, ranging over 251 million square kilometers globally. In Anglophone Europe it is just called the swallow; in northern Europe, it is the only common species called a "swallow" rather than a "martin".

The Barn swallow is a distinctive songbird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply forked tail. There is a line of white spots across the outer end of the upper 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. It also lacks the long tail streamers of the adult.

Barn swallows are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. These birds are long-distance migrants and their wintering grounds cover much of the Southern Hemisphere as far south as central Argentina, the Cape Province of South Africa, and northern Australia.