The Congo martin or Congo sand martin (''Riparia congica'') is a small

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

family. It occurs only along the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

and its tributary, the Ubangi. It is fairly abundant within its restricted range. The habitat requirement of this

non-migratory Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

species is forested rivers with sandbanks for breeding. The Congo martin nests in colonies during February and March, with each pair excavating a tunnel in a sandbank about 1 m above the river. The nest itself is at the end of the tunnel. Little is known of the breeding biology, although it is probably similar to that of the

sand martin The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...

Description

The 11 cm long Congo martin is light brown above with a slightly darker crown and wings. It has a dark line through the eye. The underside of the body is white except for a pale brown breast. It does not have the distinct narrow breast band 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 back, rump and wings. The call has not been recorded. Although the indistinct breast band of the Congo martin is different from the clearly defined markings of the sand martin, in practice it is not easy to distinguish the resident species from the winter migrant.

Behaviour

The food of this species consists of small

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s, such as gnats and other flies, caught on the wing over the river or in clearings and other open areas within a few miles of it. It feeds in small flocks or with other swallows, especially wintering sand martins.

Conservation status

This locally abundant species has a range with an estimated extent of 80,000 km². The population size is believed to be large, and the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

(i.e. declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q933872 Congo martin Birds of Central Africa Congo martin