The Barn Swallow is a very common migrant in all areas of the country
with some claims that the species winters in the region but these are probably
just late or early migrants rather than birds which are truly wintering. The
main passage is February to May and again from August to October. The species
has been particularly common this year with thousands arriving just after the
huge dust/sand storm of a couple of weeks ago. Nishan has also been seeing them
in good numbers in Udhailiyah where he took some photographs that he sent them
to me for use on my website. Barn Swallow is polytypic with the Eurasian H. r. rustica
occurring in large numbers and a small number of birds with brighter
rufous-buff coloured underparts resembling H. r. transitiva although
these birds are mainly resident in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and West Jordan.
