Welcome swallow - Hirundo neoxena

Welcome swallow - Hirundo neoxena - is a familar bird throughout most of Australia, with the exception of thickly forested areas and the arid western interior. These birds are remarkably fast and acrobatic, catching insects on the wing, so you only ever get a decent look at them when they are sitting still. I filmed this rather enchanting footage this morning of one on a gutter, looking out towards its friends. To my surprise it wasn't particularly worried by my presence and I could get within a few metres of it. This is an adult, but without seeing the tail I can't determine the sex. The speed of the head movements is amazing - at 25 frames per second there's only 0.04 seconds between each frame, and it comfortably gets its head into new positions within that amount of time.
Welcome swallows have adapted well to urban areas and are a common sight building their mud nests under verandahs and bridges. They prefer habitats close to a water source which aids both the nest building and the insect hunting. They can also regularly be seen flying above water and dipping into it - I've filmed them doing this, and at first I thought they were drinking on the wing, much the same way bats do, but I've come to the conclusion that some of it is just bathing as well. An example of each is at the end of this footage.

[@domm6812]

Lovely camera work. They're such a pretty bird, but most people don't seem to notice them.