Hirundo rustica

The barn swallow is a cosmopolitan insectivore species, found all over the world except at the poles. The subspecies that breed in Northern Europe and France are highly migratory, spending the winter in equatorial Africa.

Swallows arrive in the south of France at the end of February before heading north. In recent years, more and more swallows have been wintering in the south of France. In autumn, thousands of swallows gather on roofs and wires before leaving for Africa.

To study the swallows’ migration routes and flight altitudes, individuals are captured in Brittany on their breeding grounds and fitted with GLSs. These 0.5g mini-geolocators are to be recovered the following year in order to collect data. These data should make it possible to see whether swallows cross French maritime areas during their migration.

^{Migrateur de passage en France ; Nicheur en France}