Crested treeswift
Crested treeswift | |
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The male (left) has chestnut ear covers while the female (right) has a white moustachial stripe. | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Clade: | Strisores |
Order: | Apodiformes |
Family: | Hemiprocnidae |
Genus: | Hemiprocne |
Species: | H. coronata
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Binomial name | |
Hemiprocne coronata (Tickell, 1833)
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Synonyms | |
Dendrochelidon coronatus |
The crested treeswift (Hemiprocne coronata) is a species of
Description
The crested treeswift is a large slender bird at 23 cm (9 in) length. This species is dove grey above and white below. The long swept-back wings are a darker grey above. This treeswift has a crest and a long, deeply forked tail. The adult male has orange cheeks and ear coverts with a narrow streak of white under the eye and a trace of a white supercilium. The female has a thin white stripe below the eye running along the cheek.[2] Young birds have a dark grey head and wings but the feathers are edged in white and the rest of the soft plumage is much streakier than that of the adults. They are found in small groups that fly in wide circles in open forest, occasionally perching atop a tall and leafless tree. When perched they appear to sit very upright.[3][4]
The call of this species is a harsh kee-kyew or three note kip-kee-kep with emphasis on the middle note.[5]
Taxonomy and systematics
The species was first given a binomial name with a description by Samuel Tickell in 1833. He collected specimens during his travels in the Borabhum and Dholbhum area while serving as a lieutenant in the 31st regiment of native infantry. He called it Hirundo coronatus and gave it the trivial name of Dhudka Swallow. He noted that it was not found throughout the year.
The genus is the sole member of the tribe Hemiprocnini[10] which is, based on one morphological cladistics, considered to be more derived than the Cypseloidini (while some others have suggested that Hemiprocne is basal) and basal to the Collocaliini and more derived tribes Chaeturini and Apodini. The posterior portion of the sternum has two openings or foramina[11] and the fifth secondary is absent (also known as diastataxic, a character shared with Cypseloides) whereas other swifts have the fifth secondary (and are said to be eutaxic). Like all swifts this species uses saliva to build its nest but it does not have all the toes facing forward as in the Apodini.[12][13][14][15]
Distribution and habitat
The crested treeswift is a common resident breeder from the Indian subcontinent. It is found in India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and China.[1] These are birds of open woodland and deciduous forests. They are also found in open areas near trees and in parks and gardens. Most birds live in the lowlands below 1000 m.[3]
Behaviour
The crested treeswift builds a tiny and thin-walled and shallow
The crested treeswift feeds in the air, capturing insects (including honey bees[18]) on the wing with its bill. They are known to sometimes roost communally.[11]
Status
The crested treeswift has a very large range, the population size seems stable and it is considered relatively common. For these reasons, the
References
- ^ . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
- ^ Blanford, W.T. (1895). The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Birds. Volume III. London: Taylor and Francis. pp. 179–181.
- ^ a b c d Ali, Salim; Ripley, S. Dillon (1983). Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan, together with those of Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Volume 4. Frogmouths to Pittas (2 ed.). Delhi: Oxford University Press. pp. 58–60.
- ^ Abdulali, Humayun (1972). "A catalogue of the birds in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society-12. Apodidae and Trogonidae". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 69 (2): 378–389.
- ^ a b Lowther,E.H.N. (1936). "Notes on some Indian birds. I. The Indian Crested Swift". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 39 (1): 116–124.
- ^ Tickell, S.R. (1833). "List of birds, collected in the jungles of Borabhum and Dholbhum". Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 2: 569–583.
- ^ Jerdon, T.C. (1862). The Birds of India. Volume I. Calcutta: Military Orphan Press. pp. 185–186.
- ^ Brooke, RK (1969). "Hemiprocne coronata is a good species". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 89 (6): 168–169.
- ^ Ripley, S. Dillon (1950). "New birds from Nepal and the Indian Region". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 63: 101–108.
- JSTOR 4081635.
- ^ a b Baker, E.C. Stuart (1927). The Fauna of British India. Birds. Volume 4 (2 ed.). pp. 353–356.
- .
- ^ Holmgren, J. (1998). "A parsimonious phylogenetic tree for the swifts, Apodi, compared with DNA-analysis phylogenies". Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. 118 (4): 238–249.
- .
- JSTOR 067429.
- ^ Whistler, Hugh (1931). "On the nesting of the crested swifts". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 34: 772–777.
- ^ Stanford, JK; Smith, HC (1936). "The nesting of the Indian Crested Swift (Hemiprocne coronata) in Upper Burma". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 39 (1): 125–126.
- ^ Smythies, B.E. (1953). "Crested Tree Swifts and wild bees". J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 51 (4): 938.