Page 277 - Complete Birds of Britain and Europe (DK - RSPB)

MARTINS AND SWALLOWS
Order Passeriformes Family Hirundinidae Species Hirundo rustica
Swallow dark cap dark rufous forehead

very dark blue
upperparts deep rust-red chin
(juvenile duller)
long, slender
wings

broad
blue-black
ADULT chest-band
whitish to deep
peach-buff
underparts
IN FLIGHT

deeply forked tail
ADULT
with long outer
streamers (shorter
on female)
pale
popular bird throughout Europe, the Swallow is a summer undertail
Avisitor. Of all the swallows and martins, it has the most relaxed, coverts
easy, and flowing flight, often at the lowest level, while House Martins ADULT
feed higher up,almost as high as the Swifts.It hunts around field edges,
over village greens, cricket pitches, and open spaces, taking bigger
insect food than the aerial feeders of higher levels. It also relies FLIGHT: wings swept back, broad-based, tapered,
nowadays on access to buildings of some sort in which to nest. flicked in shallow backward wingbeats; fluent and
VOICE Calls distinctively liquid swit-swit-swit, nasal vit-vit-vit, graceful with much swerving, rolling from side to side.
tsee-tsee; song quick,
chirruping, twittering AGILE FLIGHT
Swallows dive from the nest to
warble with characteristic dash out through an open door
trills. or window.
NESTING Open-topped
cup of mud and straw, on
beam or ledge in
outbuilding, shed, or barn;
4–6 eggs; 2 or 3 broods;
April–August. AUTUMN FLOCKS
FEEDING Flies low, Before migrating in autumn,
swerving to catch flying Swallows and House Martins
insects in its mouth, gather in substantial, twittering
mostly large flies. flocks on overhead wires.
OCCURRENCE
SIMILAR SPECIES In summer, throughout Europe
except Iceland. Often near water,
RED-RUMPED SWALLOW especially in spring and autumn,
pale rump; see p.276
all-dark feeding over grassy or cultivated
pale river valleys, open space, or rich
chin farmland with hedgerows; nests in
black
under tail and around farms and villages but
SWIFT not often in suburbia.
much smaller never on thin
HOUSE MARTIN open perch; wings Seen in the UK
white rump; see p.277 see p.249 J F M A M JJ A S O N D
Length 17–19cm (6 1 ⁄2 –7 1 ⁄2in) Wingspan 32–35cm (12 1 ⁄2 –14in) Weight 16–25g ( 9 ⁄16 – 7 ⁄8oz)
Social Migrant flocks Lifespan Up to 5 years Status Declining
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