Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port (literally "Saint John [at the] Foot of [the] Pass"; ; ) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in south-western France close to Ostabat in the Pyrenean foothills. The town is also the old capital of the traditional Basque province of Lower Navarre. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port is also a starting point for the French Way "Camino Francés", the most popular option for travelling the "Camino de Santiago". The town lies on the river Nive, from the Spanish border, and is the head town of the region of Cize (Garazi in Basque). The town's layout is essentially one main street with
Pied-winged swallow Pied-winged swallow The pied-winged swallow ("Hirundo leucosoma") is a species of bird in the family Hirundinidae. It has distinctive steel-blue upperparts with white wing patches. It is native to parts of West Africa. The pied-winged swallow was described by the English ornithologist William Swainson in 1837 who introduced its current binomial name "Hirundo leucosoma". The specific epithet combines the Ancient Greek words "leukos", "white" and "sōma, sōmatos", "body". The species is monotypic. Evolutionarily, the pied-winged swallow occupies a basal position within the clade of "Hirundo" swallows and is most closely related to the pearl-breasted swallow ("Hirundo dimidiata"). The pied-winged swallow