---
title: "Wire-tailed Swallow"
description: "Hirundo smithii — Uccelli. The wire-tailed swallow (Hirundo smithii) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/it/animal/wire-tailed-swallow
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Wire-tailed Swallow

> Hirundo smithii — Uccelli. The wire-tailed swallow (Hirundo smithii) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family.

- Scientific name: *Hirundo smithii*
- Category: `birds` (Uccelli)
- Habitats: unknown
- iNaturalist observations: 4982
- Wikidata: [Q375793](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q375793)
- iNaturalist taxon: [11896](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/11896)

## Names

- en: Wire-tailed Swallow
- de: Rotkappenschwalbe
- es: Golondrina colilarga
- fr: Hirondelle à longs brins
- nl: Roodkruinzwaluw
- pt: Andorinha-rabijunca
- pl: Jaskółka rdzawogłowa

## Countries with the most observations

IN (1903), ZA (763), KE (299), TZ (207), ZM (195), BW (156), TH (150), MW (112), ZW (108), NA (106), GM (98), UG (61)

## Summary

The wire-tailed swallow (Hirundo smithii) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It has two subspecies: H. s. smithii, which occurs throughout Africa, and H. s. filifera, which is found in southern and southeastern Asia. It is mainly resident, but populations in Pakistan and northern India migrate further south in winter. The genus name Hirundo is the Latin word for swallow. The species name smithii commemorates Christen Smith, a Norwegian botanist and geologist.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire-tailed_swallow

## Photo

![Wire-tailed Swallow](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/wire-tailed-swallow/medium.jpg)

Photo: Francesco Cecere · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/30615478

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/wire-tailed-swallow?lang=it` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).