Eastern Red-rumped Swallow

The eastern red-rumped swallow (''Cecropis daurica'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It is found in open, often hilly, areas with clearings and cultivation across Southeast Asia to north-eastern India and Taiwan.

The European red-rumped swallow and the African red-rumped swallow were formerly considered as subspecies of the eastern red-rumped swallow.

Taxonomy

The eastern red-rumped swallow was formally described in 1769 by the Finnish-Swedish clergyman, explorer and natural scientist Erik Laxmann as ''Hirundo daurica'', using a specimen from Mount Schlangen, near Zmeinogorsk, Russia.Prior to the Dickinson paper, the type location had been listed as "the Sung-hua Chiang, Heilungkiang, China near its confluence with the Amur River" as, for example, in Turner (1989) pp. 201–204 It is now placed in the genus ''Cecropis'' created by German scientist Friedrich Boie in 1826. column 971 Boie's genus name ''Cecropis'' is from the Ancient Greek for an Athenian woman. The specific ''daurica'' is derived from Dauria, a mountainous region to the east of Lake Baikal in Russia. The alternative genus ''Hirundo'' is the Latin word for "swallow". Some authorities consider the West African swallow to be a subspecies of the red-rumped swallow.

Eight subspecies are recognised:

* ''C. d. daurica'' ( Laxmann, 1769) – northeast Kazakhstan and Mongolia to central south China
* ''C. d. japonica'' (Temminck & Schlegel, 1845) – southeast Siberia, Korea Peninsula and Japan to south China
* ''C. d. nipalensis'' (Hodgson, 1837) – Himalayas to north Myanmar
* ''C. d. erythropygia'' (Sykes, 1832) – central India
* ''C. d. mayri'' ( Hall, BP, 1953) – northeast Bangladesh, northeast India, north Myanmar and south China
* ''C. d. stanfordi'' (Mayr, 1941) – east Myanmar, north Thailand and Indochina
* ''C. d. vernayi'' ( Kinnear, 1924) – south Myanmar and west Thailand
* ''C. d. striolata'' (Schlegel, 1844) – Taiwan and Philippines (except Sulu Archipelago), Java and Bali to Wetar and Timor (east Lesser Sunda Islands)

The subspecies ''mayri'', ''stanfordi'', ''vernayi'' and ''striolata'' were formerly treated as a separate species, the striated swallow (''Cecropis striolata''). The species were lumped together because the variation in strength of the underpart streaking is clinal with no significant difference between ''japonica'' and ''mayri''.

Description

The eastern red-rumped swallow is 19 cm long with a deeply forked tail. It has blue upperparts other than a reddish collar (sometimes absent) and streaked chestnut rump. The face and underparts are white with heavy dark streaking. The wings are brown. The sexes are alike but juveniles are duller and browner, with a paler rump and shorter outer tail feathers.

The population in mainland India, ''C. d. erythropygia'', has the rump patch uniform dark chestnut without any dark shaft-streaks. The tail fork is shallow and the white patch on the inner web of the outer-tail feathers is indistinct. ''C. d. japonica'' breeds in eastern Asia and winters in Thailand, Burma, India and northern Australia. They are heavily streaked on the underside and have faint streaks on the rump. The population along the Himalayas, ''C. d. nipalensis'', migrates to peninsular India in winter and breeds from Kulu in the west to Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. This population has the rump paler with dark shaft streaks.

Behavior

The contact call is ''pin'', the alarm is ''chi-chi-chi'', and the song is a soft twittering.

Migration

The island subspecies are essentially resident, but the continental races ''mayri'' and ''stanfordi'' are partial migrants which move south in the winter.

Breeding

The eastern red-rumped swallow breeds from April to July alone or semi-colonially with scattered nests. The nest is a retort or bottle-shaped structure, made from mud pellets and lined with dried grasses and feathers. The clutch is usually four, sometimes five, white eggs. Both sexes build the nest, and share incubation and the care of the young.

Nests are constructed in natural caves, but very often in artificial sites on bridges, in culverts and on buildings.

Feeding

The eastern red-rumped swallow feeds low over the ground or at cliff faces on flying insects. It has a slow buoyant flight compared to the barn swallow. It will feed with other swallow species.

Gallery

File:Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) collecting mud for nest W IMG 7985.jpg, Collecting mud for nest construction (Parli, Maharashtra, India)
File:Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) in Anantgiri, AP W IMG 8714.jpg, At Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India.
File:Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) collecting mud for nest W IMG 7967.jpg, Collecting mud for nest construction (Parli, Maharashtra, India)
File:Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) in Anantgiri, AP W IMG 8735.jpg, At Ananthagiri Hills, in Rangareddy district of Andhra Pradesh, India.
File:Red-rumpedSwallow01.jpg, Red-rumped swallow on wire (Hong Kong)

References

Sources

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{{Taxonbar, from=Q27075446

eastern red-rumped swallow
Birds of Northeast India
Birds of Southeast Asia
Birds of Taiwan
Birds of Yunnan
eastern red-rumped swallow