Swallow | ||||||||||||||
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Hirundo rustica |
The North American race, Barn Swallow differs from the European form in having redder underparts. The resident African Rufous-breasted Swallow H. r. semirufa also has red underparts, and is sometimes considered a separate species, Hirundo semirufa.
Swallows are somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores, such as the related martins and the unrelated swifts (order Apodiformes) . They have a long forked tail and curved wings.
Swallows are fast flyers and they generally swoop on insects while airborne.
They have dark blue upperparts, white underparts and a small patch of red on their throats.
Swifts are larger than swallows and dark except for a plain white throat. House martins have white faces, a conspicuous white rump, and are smaller.
Swallows build neat cup-shaped nests lined with mud collected in their beaks, They normally nest in accessible buildings such as stables.
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump