Wild Bird Wednesday 701 - Welcome Swallow

Give that this WBW will be published on the last day of 2025 I'm not sure that the Welcome Swallow is the most appropriate bird to post - but in the absence of the Farewell Sparrow I think I'll just go ahead and use it!

The Welcome Swallow (Hirundo neoxena) is native to Australia and nearby islands. The species self-introduced into New Zealand in the middle of the twentieth century.  It is Australia’s most widespread swallow, and it can be found searching for flying insects in almost any habitat, between city buildings, over farmland paddocks, in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, and in every habitat in between.  It would be an unusual day of birding that did not contain a sighting of this bird.

Unlike the probably more familiar Barn Swallow (which also occurs occasionally in Northern Australia) the Welcome Swallow is not completely migratory.  Although birds from southern Australia move north in the colder months, they are never entirely absent.

This bird was minding its own business on a wire fence before I interrupted it.  The fence was in the Warby Range in Victoria, close to Glenrowan.

As ever, to join in with WBW click on the link below.  

I can only hope that 2026 brings more peace, equity and beauty than 2025 managed.  

There is always hope.

Cheers  SM.

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