Wire-tailed swallow

Description

The wire-tailed swallow is a small swallow, measuring 18 cm in length. It has bright blue upperparts, bright white underparts and a chestnut cap. Immature birds lack tail wires, and have dull brown (rather than chestnut) caps. The species is named for the very long filamentous outermost tail feathers, which trail behind like two wires. The sexes are similar in appearance, but the female has shorter "wires". Juveniles have a brown crown, back and tail. The Asian form, H. s. filifera, is larger and longer-tailed than the abundant African H. s. smithii.

Habits

This bird is found in open country near water and human habitation. Wire-tailed swallows are fast flyers and they generally feed on insects, especially flies, while airborne. They are typically seen low over water, with which they are more closely associated than most swallows.

Nesting

The neat half-bowl nests are lined with mud collected in the swallows' beaks. They are placed on vertical surfaces near water under cliff ledges or nowadays more commonly on man-made structures such as buildings and bridges. The clutch is three to four eggs in Africa, up to five in Asia (Turner and Rose). These birds are solitary and territorial nesters, unlike many swallows, which tend to be colonial.

Taxonomy and systematics

The wire-tailed swallow is a member of the genus Hirundo, a cosmopolitan group of "barn swallows". It has two subspecies:

• H. s. smithii was first described by William Elford Leach and K. D. Koenig in 1818. Known as the African wire-tailed swallow, it is found throughout Africa.
• H. s. filifera was first described by Stephens in 1826. Also known as the Asian wire-tailed swallow, it is found in southern and southeastern Asia.

Gallery

File:Wire-tailed Swallow Hirundo smithii by Dr. Raju Kasambe.jpg|H. s. filifera Wire-tailed swallow (Hirundo smithii smithii).jpg|H. s. smithii, Namibia File:Wire-tailed swallow adult (Hirundo smithii).jpg| File:Wire-tailed Swallow (Hirundo smithii) W IMG 0540.jpg|H. s. filifera at Pocharam lake, Andhra Pradesh, India File:Hirundo smithii MHNT.jpg|Clutch of eggs - MHNT File:Wire-tailed swallow mating.jpg|Mating

References

Citations

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Cited texts

• Birds of India by Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp,
• Birds of The Gambia by Barlow, Wacher and Disley,
• Swallows and Martins by Turner and Rose,

References

1. BirdLife International. (2016). "''Hirundo smithii''".
2. Jobling (2010), p. 193.
3. Jobling (2010), p. 358.