Hirundo smithii
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
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 Lilongwe on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 25th most-seen of the 52 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July
In that month about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Wire-tailed Swallow in Lilongwe on a given day, against about 10% in April, June, August–September and November–February, the lowest months. That is one of Lilongwe's driest months, with almost no rain against 310 mm in January. October has too few records to rate.
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.
21st of 58
Of the 58 cities where we can rate Wire-tailed Swallow sightings, Lilongwe ranks 21st at about 10%. The best odds are in Zanzibar City (Tanzania, about 70%), Kota (India, about 30%) and Serrekunda (Gambia, about 30%).
Same order: Passeriformes
The closest relatives of the Wire-tailed Swallow that you can see in Lilongwe (order Passeriformes, Perching Birds) are Pied Crow (about 50%), Common Bulbul (about 40%) and White-browed Robin-Chat (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Wire-tailed Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Lilongwe (9 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.
