Barn Swallow over the water
Hirundo rustica
Barn Swallow · Prospect Park · 23 May 2026
A Barn Swallow hawking insects over Prospect Park Lake in May, one of several swallows and martins working the same water. Barn Swallows are among the most widely distributed landbirds on Earth, breeding across most of the Northern Hemisphere, and almost always in close association with people.
The long, deeply forked tail streamers are the surest way to separate it from the others over the lake. The species builds its cup nest of mud pellets on beams, ledges and bridges rather than in a natural site, and nearly every nest in North America now is on something someone built.
Birds, insects, plants and other wildlife, mostly from Brooklyn, with some from further afield.
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