Six month old swallow travelled 11 000 km alrea

He is just six months old, but has travelled 11,000 km on his own already!

That is the remarkable story of a young European swallow, captured earlier this month at Mount Moreland, just north of Durban, on the South African East Coast.

His foot was ringed in Finland earlier this year! So, it is not just all the new family members from Finland who feature on Blipfoto, today a feathered friend, directly from Finland, was snapped in South Africa and posted on Blipfoto!

He is one of about 3 million European swallows who spend time in Mount Moreland for the southern summer annually, after their long migration.
Although all of them are not ringed as proof of their ventures, they all travel these distances twice a year, once from Europe to the south and once back to Europe!

Their future was at stake at a stage because of a new international airport being built at La Mercy, close to Moreland where they spend their summer, but according to Birdlife South Africa their future is quite safe now, the airport is 40% complete now and Birdlife South Africa takes part in the project?s monitoring of the environment.

Thanks to Beeld Newspaper.