Brown-throated martin

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Brown-throated martin
In Natal, South Africa

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Riparia
Species:
R. paludicola
Binomial name
Riparia paludicola
(Vieillot, 1817)
Riparia paludicola

The brown-throated martin or brown-throated sand martin (Riparia paludicola) is a small

conspecific with the grey-throated martin (Riparia chinensis) and the Madagascar martin
(Riparia cowani).

Taxonomy

The brown-throated martin was

conspecific with the grey-throated martin (Riparia chinensis) and the Madagascar martin (Riparia cowani).[6]

Six subspecies are recognised.

underparts.[7]

  • R. p. mauritanica (Meade-Waldo, 1901) – west Morocco
  • R. p. minor (Cabanis, 1851) – Senegal and Gambia to north Ethiopia
  • R. p. schoensis Reichenow, 1920 – central Ethiopia
  • R. p. newtoni Bannerman, 1937 – northeast Nigeria and west Cameroon
  • R. p. ducis Reichenow, 1908 – east DRCongo, Uganda, Kenya and north, central Tanzania
  • R. p. paludicola (Vieillot, 1817) – Angola to south Tanzania and south to South Africa

Description

The 12 cm long brown-throated martin is brown above and white or pale brown below. It lacks the narrow brown band on the breast shown by the sand martin; the bill is black and the legs are brown. Sexes are similar, but the young have pale tips to the feathers on the rump and wings.

The twittering song of the brown-throated martin is continuous when the birds are on the wing, and becomes a conversational undertone after they have settled in the roost. There is also a harsh alarm call.

Distribution and habitat

It has a wide range in Africa. It is a partially migratory species, with some populations making seasonal movements. It is usually associated closely with water as its specific epithet paludicola suggests.

Behaviour

Its brown back, small size and quicker, jerkier flight separate the brown-throated martin at once from most other members of the swallow family. It is most similar to the sand martin, Riparia riparia , which is its northern counterpart.

Breeding

The brown-throated martin is colonial in its nesting habits, with many pairs breeding close together, according to available space. The nests are at the end of tunnels of 30 to 60 cm in length, bored in sandbanks. The actual nest is a litter of straw and feathers in a chamber at the end of the burrow. Two to four white eggs are the normal clutch, and are incubated by both parents.

Food and feeding

The food of this species consists of small insects, mostly gnats and other flies whose early stages are aquatic.

References

  1. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T103815402A94322868.en
    . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  2. ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1817). Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle, appliquée aux arts, à l'agriculture, à l'économie rurale et domestique, à la médecine, etc (in French). Vol. 14 (Nouvelle édition ed.). Paris: Deterville. pp. 511–512.
  3. ^ Mayr, Ernst; Greenway, James C. Jr, eds. (1960). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 9. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 97.
  4. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4
    .
  5. ^ Levaillant, François (1806). Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux d'Afrique (in French). Vol. 5. Paris: Delachauchée. pp. 154–155, Plate 245 Fig. 2.
  6. ^ a b Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (December 2023). "Swallows". IOC World Bird List Version 14.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  7. ISBN 0-395-51174-7
    .

External links
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