The Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is going North its breeding territory in Western Europe. The numbers of this swallow in Catalonia are also growing up. There are two main breeding populations, one is at North beside the French border but the biggest one is at South and inland in both Lleida and Tarragona provinces. Is in this bigger population where I’ve found this spring some couples breeding in new sites.

Typical Red-rumped Swallow nest inside a non-used building. Photo; Carles Oliver

Red-rumped Swallow (Cecropis daurica) is breeding in new places in a 50 kilometers North of Balaguer town, an area immediatly situated South of Pyrenees. I’ve found until tree nesting couples in different non-used farm houses near the village of Camarasa. The swallows are in an area with no breeding records for this species before.

Red-rumped Swallows use to nest inside small or medium size non-used human constructions as well as under bridges and other structures. It prefers to have near the nest some small river or other fresh water.

It seems clear that this species is gonna be commoner in Catalonia in next years and is even possible that is gonna arrive as a nesting bird to some Pyrenees valleys as a natural process due its strong expansion in Western Europe.