Breeding population of Barn Swallows in Gozo

Abstract

The Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica (Linnaeus, 1758) is a very common passage migrant in the Maltese Islands, both in spring and in autumn. They start arriving from late February to mid-May, and also from late August until early November. Occasional pairs have bred in the past, with the first documented breeding record for mainland Malta occurring in 1974 when a pair of Barn Swallows bred in a house in the middle of Mqabba. Moreover, the second record of such a breeding pair took place in a derelict farmhouse in the limits of Bidnija in the summer of 1995, where a nest containing four fully-grown young was found on 28 July, a day before they fledged. Additionally, the preceding record, reported also on mainland Malta, occurred in 2004.