SABAP2 is the most important bird conservation project in South Africa. This is because conservation interventions depend on knowing the distributions of species and how they are changing. This is a slideshare of the Barn Swallow Seasonality, Migration and Breeding.

1. Animal Demography Unit
Department of Biological Sciences
University of Cape Town
Caitlin Smith and Les Underhill
2017
Figure 1. Barn (European) Swallow, Witpoort road, North
West. Photographer ©Tony Archer. Record 6781 in the
BirdPix section of the ADU Virtual Museum. Full details at
http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=BirdPix-6781

2. Barn Swallow
Hirundo rustica
 The Barn Swallow is an abundant, non-breeding Palearctic
migrant occurring throughout southern Africa.
 It is widespread, and found in almost every habitat in
southern Africa. However, it is more common in eastern
parts of southern Africa, rather than the drier west.
 There are higher reporting rates in moist grassland,
fynbos, and woodland, than in semi-arid and desert
regions.
 You can see all this in the next slide.

3. SABAP2 distribution map for the
Barn Swallow, downloaded 5 June
2017. This is the full year distribution
map. Pentads with more than four
checklists have reporting rates
shown in colour. The highest
reporting rates are blue, intermediate
rates are green, and the lowest rates
are orange and yellow

4. The annual cycle
 Barn Swallows generally nest in
caves, crevices and ledges in cliffs,
and artificial structures such as
barns, bridges and houses.
 They have an enormous breeding
range, from Ireland, all across
Europe, and into parts of Russia east
of the Urals, in Asia.
 After breeding, they migrate south,
reaching southern Africa by late
October/early November. They leave
during April. Some stragglers have
been recorded in May, with records
throughout the southern winter
months.
 The maps that follow show the
month by month distribution.
Figure 2. Barn (European) Swallow, Rainforest Lodge,
Malawi. Photographer © Gary Brown. Record 25406 in the
BirdPix section of the ADU Virtual Museum. Full details at
http://vmus.adu.org.za/?vm=BirdPix-25406

5. September
During September, Barn Swallows
start arriving and occur in scattered
areas of South Africa. The records
are mainly along coastal regions,
Gauteng, and Kruger National Park

6. October
During October, arrival is in
full swing

7. November
By November, reporting rates
are high

8. December
The difference between
November and December is
most clearly seen around Cape
Town. There are now more
records from the southwestern
corner of South Africa.

9. January
January looks much the
same as December. The
Barn Swallows are in
residence.

10. February
The pattern of distribution
from December and January
continues almost unchanged
into February. The Barn
Swallows remain in residence.

11. March
In March the Barn Swallow
distribution is just starting to
thin out. There are now some
pentads shaded yellow and
orange, with low reporting rates.

12. April
Decreases can be seen in
April, signalling their
migration north.

13. May–August
During the winter months the Barn
Swallow was recorded in scattered
areas of South Africa, especially in the
areas with lots of observers. The
yellow indicates that reporting rates
were very low.

14. Action points
1. These are awesome results. All atlasers can pat
themselves on the back.
2. In the monthly maps, pentads are shown in colour if
there are four checklists for the month. It is amazing
how many pentads have at least four checklists per
month.
3. Every checklist helps towards every plot. This
includes both those with Barn Swallow recorded and
those without Barn Swallow recorded.
4. Here is a new target, a new challenge. Try to get four
checklists per pentad per MONTH!