Hirundo smithii
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~60%
The wire-tailed swallow (Hirundo smithii) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It is mainly resident, but populations in Pakistan and northern India migrate further south in winter. The genus name Hirundo is the Latin word for swallow. The species name smithii commemorates Christen Smith, a Norwegian botanist and geologist.
The wire-tailed swallow is a small swallow, measuring 18 cm (7.1 in) in length. It has bright blue upperparts, bright white underparts and a chestnut cap. Immature birds lack tail wires, and have dull brown (rather than chestnut) caps. The species is named for the very long filamentous outermost tail feathers, which trail behind like two wires. The sexes are similar in appearance, but the female has shorter "wires". Juveniles have a brown crown, back and tail.
This bird is found in open country near water and human habitation. Wire-tailed swallows are fast flyers and they generally feed... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Kota | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Serrekunda | 🇬🇲 Gambia | |
| 4 | Indore | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 6 | Nashik | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 7 | Lucknow | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Bhopal | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Kalyan-Dombivli | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 10 | Chandigarh | 🇮🇳 India |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Wire-tailed Swallow sighting in Harare on a given day, based on 70 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 69th most-seen of the 213 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 60%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April, June–August and October
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Wire-tailed Swallow in Harare on a given day, against under 5% in January, the lowest month. Those are among Harare's driest months, with about 15 mm of rain a month against 200 mm in December.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Wire-tailed Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
18th of 58
Of the 58 cities where we can rate Wire-tailed Swallow sightings, Harare ranks 18th at about 10%. The best odds are in Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 70%), Kota (India, about 30%) and Serrekunda (Gambia, about 30%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wire-tailed Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Harare (70 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
