Common House-Martin

Delichon urbicaOrder: PASSERIFORMES Family: Swallows (Hirundinidae)

Codes: Common Name: COHM Scientific Name: DELURB ITIS Taxonomic No.: 178445

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Overview

Common House-Martin: Small swallow, metallic dark blue mantle and crown; wings and tail are black-gray. Forked tail. Solid white rump distinguishes it from other swallows. Legs covered in white down. Flight is graceful, swift and direct on rapidly beating wings. It soars on wide triangular wings.

Range and Habitat

Common House-Martin: Strongly migratory. Winters in tropical Africa; remains at breeding sites in Europe, Asia from April to October. Stray to Alaskan Bering Sea region. Found in varying open habitats, always near water, mud, and nesting sites. Often perches on utility cables.

Topo Map: Swallow-like Body

Listen to Call

Voice Text

"tseep, tseep, tseep", "prrrtt, prrrtt, prrrtt"

Interesting Facts

The Common House Martin was first described by Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae in 1758 as Hirundo urbica, but was placed in its current genus Delichon by Thomas Horsfield and Frederic Moore in 1854.

Delichon is an anagram of the Ancient Greek term chelīdōn, meaning 'swallow', and the species name urbicum (urbica until 2004, due to a misunderstanding of Latin grammar) means 'of the town' in Latin.

This species has greatly benefited from forest clearing, which create the open habitats it prefers, and from human habitation which have given it an abundance of safe man-made nest sites.

A group of martins has many collective nouns, including a "circlage", "flight", "gulp", "richness", and "swoop" of martins.

Bird Term Glossary

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Common House-Martin

● Song: "tseep, tseep, tseep", "prrrtt, prrrtt, prrrtt"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common House-Martin: Flies for hours hunting insects. Prefers flies, aphids, beetles. Sometimes feeds while perched or clinging to vertical surfaces.

● Breeding & nesting: Common House-Martin: Builds cup-shaped nest from mud pellets, feathers, and other light materials on vertical surfaces beneath protective overhangs. Often colonial. May reuse nests. Up to three broods per season; four to six white eggs are incubated for 13 to 19 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Common House-Martin: Only species with white rump and lacks streamers. Bank Swallow has brown-gray upperparts. Northern Rough-winged Swallow is darker gray. Tree Swallow most similar; lacks white rump. Violet-green Swallow white on cheek and above eye. White-throated Needletail has stubby tail. Fork-tailed Swift has deeply-forked tail.

Flight Pattern

Soars for long periods. Swift, strong wingbeats. Dives, climbs, spirals, glides, stalls: a spectacular and nimble flier.

● Range & Habitat: Common House-Martin: Strongly migratory. Winters in tropical Africa; remains at breeding sites in Europe, Asia from April to October. Stray to Alaskan Bering Sea region. Found in varying open habitats, always near water, mud, and nesting sites. Often perches on utility cables.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial nester

^PopulationFairly common on breeding grounds, Casual to accidental in AK

^MigrationNeotropical Migrant

^Weight0.5 Ounces

Swallow-like Body

Mantle

The upper surface of the back and wings covered with shorter feathers.

Rump

The area between the uppertail coverts and the back of the bird.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America