Where do ‘our’ swallows go?

Posted on 15 April 2009

Each year around this time as the cosmos starts to bloom and the mornings turn chilly, our skies become a little poorer.

Millions of clever, sun-loving birds make a dash over the equator for spring time. Chatting to a friend in Austria where they are celebrating the arrival of the first swallows, and the beginning of spring, he said he was happy to have ‘his’ swallows back. Oddly this made me a little possessive, as I felt the swallows were only on loan to him few a few months. After a little soul searching I suppose he is closer to the truth, they are born and do breed in the northern hemisphere, but I am sure bird lovers in the southern hemisphere have just as much love for these amazing little birds who fly about 12 000km twice a year.

Most of the information we have about the migration routes comes bird ringing done under the umbrella of the South African Bird Ringing Unit (SAFRING). They have gathered some amazing information by capturing the swallows, putting little metal rings on their legs and letting them go again in the hope that they get captured again somewhere else, in order to learn about their movements. Most of the re-trapped birds turn up in the UK, but some go as far as Scandinavia and Russia. The longest distance between ringing and recovery is 11 358km recorded from a bird ringed in Mossel Bay and recovered in Petrovsk in Russian only 34 days later! To learn more about these amazing stories, have a look at the following link that will take up to the Safring site and give you all the info on Barn Swallows that have been ringed and recaptured. http://safring.adu.org.za/new/species_summary.php?spp=493 I have included a map of that site below that shows where many of ‘our’ birds end up.

There are some scary facts, just released by BirdLife International, showing that there has been a 40% decline in the number of migrant birds flying between Africa, the Middle East and Europe over the last three decades. Of these, 10% are classified as Globally Threatened or Near Threatened by BirdLife on behalf of the IUCN Red List. In some places, these tiny little travellers are way-laid by mad hunters in Malta who kill them for fun, or locals in Cyprus who eat them. BirdLife Cyprus announced that in 2008 more than 1.1 million birds were illegally slaughtered in there by trappers eager to feed a lucrative demand for banned Warbler ‘delicacies’. Cyprus lies on a key migratory route and bird trapping has been a very common activity for years, with trappers using either fine mist nets or sticks dipped in sticky lime. Worryingly, the trend showed that last winter’s mist netting activities considerably increased, while trapping reached the highest level for five years even though 90 % of the migratory birds flying over Cyprus each year are protected. “It is an unacceptable toll and a depressing trend, whichever way you look at it”, said Martin Hellicar, Executive Manager at Birdlife Cyprus.

Each year, fewer and fewer migratory birds are returning and successfully breeding. In response to these worrying declines, BirdLife has launched the ‘Born to Travel Campaign’ to protect migratory birds along the African-Eurasian flyway. Please visit the website, watch the video and read about how 70 BirdLife partners are working on joined-up conservation projects and find out how you can get involved (BirdLife campaigns to save migratory birds).

Hopefully those little swallows that feed around your home or the field where you walk your dogs every afternoon make their amazing journey to the northern summer lands safely and return again next year. If you are still lucky enough to see some swallows this season, wave to them and wish them luck; they will need it.






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