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Merchant Acceptance Was Highest in Daegu Markets With Barn Swallow Nests

Barn swallow inspecting an old nest under the roof of Taipei Minsheng Post Office in Taiwan
Conservation · Human–wildlife conflict

Barn swallows (Hirundo rustica) had active nests in 10 of 48 traditional markets surveyed across Daegu, South Korea, in 2025. None of eight broad market, distance, topographic or landscape variables clearly distinguished markets with nests from those without them. Merchants’ attitudes, however, differed strongly with the markets’ recent nesting history.

The 48 markets were checked during the breeding season. Interviews with long-term merchants and locally available records were then used to classify three additional markets as having recent swallow records in 2020–2024 but no nests in 2025; the remaining 35 had no long-term nesting record in the material reviewed. Because this history partly relied on recollection and irregular local records, it is not equivalent to continuous monitoring.

Broad environmental variables did not explain nest presence

The researchers compared eight variables, including market size and age, distance to rivers and farmland, elevation, slope, natural cover within 500 metres and landscape diversity. None differed significantly between the 10 markets with nests and the 38 without them.

This does not show that physical conditions were unimportant. The study did not directly measure insect food, microclimate, predators, pollution, lighting or fine-scale nesting features such as eaves and awnings. The measured variables may therefore have been too broad to capture what makes an individual market suitable.

Merchant acceptance was highest where nests remained

Questionnaires were collected in eight markets: four with at least six nests in 2025, all three with recent records but no 2025 nests, and one with no long-term nesting record. Ten merchants and ten visitors answered in each market, giving 160 respondents.

Among merchants, all three attitude indices followed the same order. For example, the mean perception score was 4.64 out of five in markets with nests, 3.68 in the recently declined markets and 2.50 in the no-record market. Willingness to protect and coexist with swallows, and expectations that the birds could contribute to market identity or activity, followed the same gradient.

Visitors did not show the same simple pattern. In particular, the market without a long-term nesting record scored highly among visitors on the idea that swallows could contribute to market identity and activity. The authors suggest that visitors may value swallows as part of a market’s ecological and cultural character even where merchants are more aware of practical costs such as droppings and cleaning.

The association does not show which way causation runs

The authors propose that repeated experience of living alongside swallows may increase tolerance, and discuss measures such as boards beneath nests, agreed management rules and environmental education. But the study did not test whether acceptance caused nests to persist. Long-standing nest presence could itself have shaped merchants’ attitudes.

The questionnaire comparison was also small, with only one no-record market, and visitors were recruited by convenience sampling. The study therefore supports a socio-ecological association between swallow nesting and local acceptance, not a causal explanation or a long-term population trend across Daegu.

Sources and image credit

  1. Jang, E., Cha, I., Park, J., & Rho, P. (2026). Nesting Status of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and Citizen Perceptions in Traditional Markets of a Metropolitan City. Journal of Environmental Science International, 35(6), 445–457.Primary peer-reviewed open-access study. Field surveys covered 48 traditional markets in Daegu, South Korea, in 2025; questionnaire surveys covered eight markets and 160 respondents.

Image: 玄史生 — barn swallow inspecting an old nest beneath the roof of Taipei Minsheng Post Office, Taiwan, 8 March 2015; Wikimedia Commons; CC0 1.0. Representative urban-nesting image, not from the Daegu study. · CC0 1.0 · Source

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