Pacific Swallow

About the Pacific Swallow

The Pacific swallow (Hirundo javanica) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It breeds in tropical southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific. 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 treated as conspecific with hill swallow, the welcome swallow and the Tahiti swallow.

The Pacific swallow was formally described and illustrated in 1789 by the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman based on a specimen collected on the Indonesian island of Java. He coined the binomial name Hirundo javanica. The Pacific swallow was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Tahiti swallow (Hirundo tahitica). The species were split based on the differences in morphology.

Six subspecies are recognised: H. j. javanica Sparrman, 1789 – south Myanmar and Andaman Islands to south Vietnam, east to Philippines and south to Moluccas and Greater and Lesser Sunda Islands H. j. namiyei (Stejneger, 1887) – Ryukyu Islands (south Japan) and Taiwan

H. j. frontalis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832 – north, west New Guinea including Raja Ampat Islands (northwest New... Wikipedia →