The Barn Swallow has been a pretty common bird around the countryside and many of us probably have taken it much for granted. Every spring, for as long as anyone can remember, this long-range traveller has shown up on "country doorsteps" after travelling many thousand kilometres from places as far away as Peru and Argentina in South America, to nest and raise a family.

      There are about 75 species of swallows around the world. The barn swallow is easily distinguished from others by its deeply forked tail. The Barn Swallow is a "world bird" being found throughout the northern hemisphere and with north-south migration patterns unique to each area. For example the Barn Swallows of England migrate to/from north Africa and our Barn Swallows migrate as far north as Alaska and winter south of Panama.

      Swallows are small, insect-eating birds, with wide mouths well suited for capturing insects in the air. They also have facial bristles near the mouth that enhance their ability to catch flying prey. They have exceptional agility in flight and this skill can easily be observed close-up. They drink while flying by skimming the water surface.

      Those of us, who were brought up in farm country, are quite familiar with this bird that suddenly each spring, persistently "moves in with us" and carries on "business as usual" as if we weren't even there! Just as suddenly, in the fall, they disappear! Ancient folklore had it that the birds vanished into the mud of the ponds to hibernate for the winter! I suspect that many of us "city folk" may not know very much about this bird or its marathon migrations at all!

      There is an opportunity for the city people to see this bird in action at least in a few of our city parks that are accessible to everyone. Here are a couple of examples:

      Milliken Park: This suburban park, in north-east Scarborough, Ontario, has been developed with a large pond, marsh area and botanical garden. The park was very busy with picnickers when I recently paid a visit. In spite of all the "people activity" going on, a colony of Barn Swallows had set up housekeeping in a small gazebo structure right in the centre of everything! It was an excellent opportunity for all these "city folks (including ourselves)" to see these birds close-up! There was "heavy traffic" everywhere as the parent birds foraged around the park for insects on the wing and dodged around the mingling people, to tend to their demanding offspring! It was certainly reassuring to see that both groups of people and birds carried on with their activities without bothering each other!

      The next example is at Edwards Gardens, a park that is more central to Toronto. I noticed the comings and goings of both birds and workers at the nearby equipment sheds that also served as garages for the gardening vehicles. Barn Swallows were sharing the area and commuting in and out through the doorways along with the workers! There was such a number of birds that continuous fierce territorial fights were being held among the birds inside the garage. The birds even fell to the floor and continued their fighting! The workers certainly seemed to enjoy having the birds with them and indicated that they had 14 nests going at one time over the summer. With floor space of only about 200 square feet it was not surprising that there were territorial squabbles among the birds. Edwards gardens has a pond and stream about 300 feet down the hill from the sheds-an ideal location for Swallows.