Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 14, 2008
The Barn Swallow is the world's most widespread species of swallow. A distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings, it occurs in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. There are six subspecies of Barn Swallow, which breed across the Northern Hemisphere. Four are strongly migratory, and their wintering grounds cover much of the Southern Hemisphere as far south as central Argentina, the Cape Province of South Africa, and northern Australia. The Barn Swallow is a bird of open country which normally uses man-made structures to breed and consequently has spread with human expansion. It builds a cup nest from mud pellets in barns or similar structures and feeds on insects caught in flight. This species lives in close association with humans, and its insect-eating habits mean that it is tolerated by man; this acceptance was reinforced in the past by superstitions regarding the bird and its nest. There are frequent cultural references to the Barn Swallow in literary and religious works due both to its living in close proximity to humans, and its conspicuous annual migration. (more...)
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