The Flight of the Barn Swallow

This animated gridded occurrence map shows recorded sightings of the Barn Swallow in Europe throughout 2024. The Barn Swallow is one of Europe's most well-known migratory birds, undertaking a long-distance migration between its breeding grounds in Europe and wintering areas in Africa.

On the animated map, you can see Barn Swallows returning to southern Europe in late February and early March. During April and May, they spread northward into central and northern Europe, reaching the UK, Scandinavia, and even parts of Russia.

In August and September, the swallows begin their southward migration as insect availability declines. By late November, most Barn Swallows will have reached their wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa, in countries like Senegal, Nigeria, and South Africa.

This animated map of Barn Swallow sightings can be viewed on the EuroBirdPortal (EBP), a collaborative project that compiles and visualizes bird observation data from across Europe. The site integrates millions of records submitted by birdwatchers from multiple online platforms. EBP then creates animated, interactive maps that track bird distributions and movements over the course of a year, offering valuable insights into migration patterns, seasonal changes, and species distributions across the continent.

You can also explore European bird migration patterns on the Bird Migration Atlas. The Bird Migration Atlas is an interactive map that plots the migration patterns of over 300 bird species across two continents: Eurasia and Africa. The map integrates data from historical European ringing schemes and modern tracking technologies to provide a comprehensive view of migration routes across both continents.

You can explore the migration patterns of American bird species on the impressive Bird Migration Explorer. The Bird Migration Explorer is an interactive map that visualizes the migratory patterns of 458 bird species that breed in the United States and Canada. Using this map, you can explore the journeys of individual bird species and discover when different species are likely to migrate through your town or city in North America.