Nimbin Rainbow Walk

Welcome Swallow

girrigirri (Bundjalung name)

Hirundo neoxena

Songs & Calls

Listen to the call of the welcome swallow.

Local Notes

This swallow makes its own welcome, returning year after year to the same remembered spot, constructing its nest of mud and twigs under my verandah awning. Once nested, eggs laid and hatched, the parents spend tenacious weeks flying in and out fetching food for the hatchlings. I love when the tiny swallows have grown just enough to peep over their nest to see their world.

by Sky Hallett

Bird Overview

Australia’s most widespread swallow, the Welcome Swallow can be seen fluttering, swooping and gliding in search of flying insects in almost any habitat, between city buildings, over farmland paddocks, in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, and in every habitat in between. Sometimes they even occur at sea — the name ‘Welcome’ swallow comes from sailors who knew that the sight of a swallow meant that land was not far away. Swallows build their mud nests in many different situations, though most noticeably beneath bridges and on the walls of buildings.

Identification

The Welcome Swallow is metallic blue-black above, light grey below on the breast and belly, and rust red on the forehead, throat and upper breast. It has a long forked tail, with a row of white spots on the individual feathers. The outer tail feathers (streamers) are slightly shorter in the female. Young Welcome Swallows are buffy white, instead of rusty, on the forehead and throat, and have shorter tail streamers.