Parent and child (Warou or Welcome Swallows)

While having lunch I noticed this young one (on the right) sitting on the fence looking a little apprehensive and unsure, looking and waiting for his parent to arrive with some food. Interestingly, although the parent arrived and perched alongside on the fence - when feeding the parent flew above and fed the young one while fluttering in mid-air. Now that would have been a great shot! But here they are looking at each other.


Lovely birds that swoop around. They tend to nest in the eaves of buildings with nests largely made of mud . 


A self-introduced species from Australia, welcome swallows were rare vagrants before the late 1950s and increased greatly through the 1960s and 1970s particularly in the North Island. They were named ‘welcome swallows’ because they appeared in southern Australia as a herald of spring. Welcome swallows occur throughout New Zealand, though are rare or absent in Fiordland. see