Welcome Swallow
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genera: Hirundo
Species: tahitica
Sub Species: neoxena
Scientific name: Hirundo neoxena Common Names: Welcome Swallow,house swallow, pacific swallow
Welcome swallows (Hirundo neoxena) are a new addition to New Zealand’s native fauna. Known only as occasional vagrants before the 1950s, they were first noticed breeding near Kaitaia, Northland, in 1958. Since then they have spread throughout the mainland, except for the central South Island mountains. They are small, slender birds with finely pointed wings and distinctive forked tails .Welcome swallows eat invertebrates, caught on the wing. Mainly flies, including midges and blowflies, small beetles and moths.
Welcome swallows’ distinctive mud nests hang from vertical or near-vertical surfaces under a roof or overhang, such as walls of caves, outhouses, barns, or under bridges and jetties. The nest resembles an upside-down igloo, made of beakfuls of mud strengthened with dry grass stalks. Starting from the base, the birds build out in curved tiers, creating a cup, which they then line with grass, rootlets, wool and feathers.
Information from Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/birds-of-open-country/6
