Hirundo domicola
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The hill swallow (Hirundo domicola) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in southern India and Sri Lanka. It is resident apart from some local seasonal movements. This bird is associated with coasts, but is increasingly spreading to forested uplands. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Pacific swallow.
This species is a small swallow at 13 cm (5.1 in). It has a blue back with browner wings and tail, a red face and throat, and dusky underparts. It differs from the barn swallow and the closely related welcome swallow in its shorter and less forked tail.
The hill swallow builds a neat cup-shaped nest, constructed with mud pellets collected in the beak, under a cliff ledge or on man-made structures such as a building, bridge or tunnel. The nest is lined with softer material, and the clutch is up to four eggs. Detailed studies on the breeding ecology of the species were conducted in Silent Valley National Park and Muthikkulam reserve forests of Kerala.
It is similar in behaviour to other aerial insectivores, such as other swallows and the unrelated swifts. It is a fast flyer and feeds... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Horton Plains National Park | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | |
| 2 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Mudumalai National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Bandipur National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 6 | Sinharaja Forest Reserve | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Hill Swallow sighting in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, based on 88 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 120th most-seen of the 233 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.
January and February
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Hill Swallow in Mudumalai National Park on a given day, against under 5% in September to November, the lowest months. Those are among Mudumalai National Park's driest months, with about 20 mm of rain a month against 230 mm in July.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Hill Swallow sightings with a recorded time, and about half of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
3rd of 6
Of the 6 parks where we can rate Hill Swallow sightings, Mudumalai National Park ranks 3rd at about 10%. The best odds are in Horton Plains National Park (Sri Lanka, about 80%) and Eravikulam National Park (India, about 70%).
Same genus: Hirundo
The closest relatives of the Hill Swallow that you can see in Mudumalai National Park (genus Hirundo, Typical Swallows) are Barn Swallow (about 10%) and Wire-tailed Swallow (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Hill Swallow is recorded against all the birds logged in Mudumalai National Park (88 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
