Micro-Season: “The Swallows Arrive” 2023

We have entered the micro-season of “The Swallows Arrive.” This is the first micro-season of the mini-season of Clear and Bright. All the micro-seasons within Clear and Bright are:

• The Swallows Arrive (Apr 04 – Apr 08)
• Geese Fly North (Apr 09 – Apr 13)
• The First Rainbow Appears (Apr 14 – Apr 19)

The 72 micro-seasons were established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai. While they are specific to Japan, they can be useful to people all over the world. No matter where you live, you can use these seasons as a starting point for your own exploration of the natural world.

To celebrate this season, we will learn about swallows and barn swallow migration.  Then we will read seasonal haiku by Basho, Buson, Shiki, Issa, and Reichhold.

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In this season we are welcoming the return of the swallows from their winter residents.  This is the opposite of the micro-season of “The Swallows Leave” (Sep 17 – Sep 21) where the swallows migrate toward their winter homes.  

About The Swallow

The term “swallow” refers to birds that are in the Hirundinidae family within the order of Passeriformes.  There are 86 different species of swallows worldwide.⁽¹⁾

Swallows are small birds “with pointed narrow wings, short bills, and small weak feet.”⁽²⁾ Many swallows have forked tails with plain, metallic blue, or green, plumage. Swallows spend most of their time in the air hunting insects for food.  Swallows can nest in tree cavities, burrow into sandbanks, or make mud nests in man-made structures and will lay between 3 and 7 eggs per clutch.⁽²⁾ 

Eight species of swallows are commonly found in the United States: the Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Bank Swallow, Barn Swallow, Purple Martin, Tree Swallow, Violet-green Swallow, Cliff Swallow, and Cave Swallow.⁽¹⁾ Of these, only the Barn Swallow is common in both North America and Japan.

About The Barn Swallow

Barn Swallows are found around the world. They have blue backs, wings, and tails.  Their underparts are cinnamon-colored and they have dark red foreheads and throats. The males have bolder colors than the females.⁽³⁾  

It is often easy to notice a swallow in flight because they will execute tight turns and dives while searching for insects. Swallows catch insects in midair and can be found hunting in open spaces like fields, parks, marshes, ponds, and coastal waters. 

The population of Barn Swallow has been on the decline in recent years.^(1,4)  In North America, the Barn Swallow population has “declined by approximately 38 percent since 1970”.⁽¹⁾ There are several potential reasons for this decline including climate change and modern farming practices which include greater use of pesticides that eliminate many flying insects.  All these factors contribute to a change in habitat that makes it difficult for the Barn Swallow to survive. 

Barn Swallow Migration

Barn Swallows are long-distance migrants, meaning they travel several hundreds of miles distances between their summer and winter homes. The North American Barn Swallows spend their summers in North America and winter in Central and South America.  The Barn Swallows of Japan, will winter in South East Asia, Southern Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia and return to Japan in the summer.  The following map by the World Bird Society of Japan provides a visual of the migration patterns. 

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Seasonal Haiku

According to the World Kigo Database,  the general term “Swallow” (tsubame) is not connected to a specific season.  However, “Barn Swallow”, “Swallows in flight”, and “First swallow of the season” are spring kigo.  “Migrating Swallow”, on the other hand, is considered an autumn kigo. The distinction between what would be a spring behavior and what is an autumn behavior has a lot to do with your location.  For those in more tropical locations, the swallows may leave in the spring.

With this in mind, let’s read some haiku.

Basho

don’t drop your dirt
into my wine cup- 
flock of swallows. 
(translated by David Landis Barnhill) 

Buson

Warehouses in a row-- 
behind them is a road, 
where swallows come and go. 
(translated by H. G. Henderson) 

Shiki

soundly, soundly
the plasterer sleeps -
swallows
(retrieved from World Kigo Database)

Issa

today they're flying
in the bathhouse town...
swallow swarm
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

taking flight
from the cloudburst...
a swallow
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Jane Reichhold

home again
fluttering in the eaves
barn swallows

from the broken bell
the chatter of swallows
nest building

Haiku Invitation

This week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu that references the birds in flight.

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your own page and link back to this post. I can’t wait to read what you write!  

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Resources

1. Heisman, Rebecca. “Swallows of the United States”; American Bird Conservancy
2. “Swallow”; Britannica
3. “Barn Swallows”; All About Birds
4. “Barn Swallows Observation Guide”; Wild Bird Society of Japan
5. “Swallow (tsubame)”; World Kigo Database

 Basho’s haiku was retrieved from Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations. . Buson’s haiku was retrieved from “Haiku of Yosa Buson Organized by Rōmaji, in alphabetical order; translated into English, French, Spanish” Terebess Asia Online (TAO). Issa’s haiku was retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s HaikuGuy.com.  Jane Reichhold’s Haiku retrieved from A Dictionary of Haiku