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The Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) is a bird found in United States, Spain, Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom and France. Open country and farms on every continent except Antarctica. It eats insects and other small invertebrates, fruit and seeds and nuts. The IUCN Red List lists it as Least Concern.

🏡 Where the Barn Swallow lives

Open country and farms on every continent except Antarctica.

🍽️ What it eats

• 🐛 Insects & bugs80%
• 🍎 Fruit10%
• 🌰 Seeds & nuts10%

A rough guide to its diet over a year. Source: EltonTraits (Wilman et al. 2014).

Conservation status

Hear the Barn Swallow

Recorded by Olivier SWIFT (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), xeno-canto XC1149071. Trimmed to a few seconds.

Questions about the Barn Swallow

Where does the Barn Swallow live?

The Barn Swallow lives in United States, Spain, Canada, Sweden, United Kingdom and France. Open country and farms on every continent except Antarctica.

What does the Barn Swallow eat?

insects and other small invertebrates (about 80%), fruit (about 10%), seeds and nuts (about 10%). These are rough shares of its diet over a year, from the EltonTraits database.

Is the Barn Swallow endangered?

There are plenty of these birds. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern.

More birds from Europe

• Tree pipit
• Cetti's warbler
• Yellow-legged gull
• Crested lark
• Marsh tit
• Red-breasted merganser

Sources: IUCN Red List (via Wikidata), EltonTraits 1.0 (Wilman et al. 2014), GBIF sightings for countries, Wikipedia. Last updated 2026-10-19.