Hirundo neoxena

A pair of wary Welcome Swallows, perching in the eaves of the Yellow-Eyed Penguin colony hide. There are remnants of nests in this hide, and every day I go out there the swallows duck and dive around the eaves, determined but obviously reluctant to nest where so many people are standing. I'm not sure why they continue to pursue the effort. It reminds me of the Tree Swallows that nested on the deck of the house I lived in while working on the vegetable farm last spring. Once the chicks had hatched in the nest box, you could not go out on the deck without being attacked. Yet for weeks they watched us come and go as they built the nest and incubated the eggs. Brave but inefficient technique I think.

Welcome Swallows are the only swallow species that breeds in New Zealand, and have only been doing so about 60 years now. They self-introduced themselves from Australia, like many Australian species have done over the last many millennia, flying (or being carried) over in favorable winds and somehow establishing a foothold. They were first noticed to be breeding in Northland...go figure.