6.75 inches long. The Barn Swallow has a long deeply forked tail with white spots on the inner webs. It has a dark orange forehead and throat. The upperparts are dark iridescent blue. The underparts of the male are pale orange. Females tend to be whiter underneath, Like all swallows the Barn Swallow has long pointed wings.
The Barn Swallow is a very common breeding bird that arrives by early April and stays as late as mid November. It very often nests on the building at the Wetlands Learning Center.
The Barn Swallows nest communally in mud nests that it may often build under bridges and building eaves as well as natural sites such as caves. The nest is a partial bowl of mud. Today it almost exclusively uses manmade structures for nesting. It is the most widely distributed and abundant swallow in the world. Its diet consists exclusively of flying insects.
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