Red-rumped Swallow

A Red-rumped Swallow Cecropis daurica photographed in flight at some distance. The photo itself has little value and the only reason that I have added it is that it is extremely difficult to photograph such a tiny bird in flight and and requires a huge amount of luck. The species was common at this location and during the remainder of our tour, some fifty or so individual birds were seen. The pale orange rump and nuchal collar of the species are clearly visible as are the shiny dark blue upper back and wings and forked tail with long streamers.

This is one of the world’s most widespread species with a population size in the range 10 – 500 million birds (presumably impossible to count) and has an incredible distribution of 100 million square kilometres. These swallows are usually found over grassland where they hawk insects. They may sometimes take advantage of grass fires and grazing cattle that flush insects into the air.

Red-rumped Swallow breeds across southern Europe and Asia east to southern Siberia and Japan, These populations, along with Moroccan birds, are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa or south Asia. There are resident races in Africa in a broad belt from West Africa east to Ethiopia and then south to Tanzania, and most Indian and Sri Lanka breeders are also year-round residents. The African and Asian subspecies may undertake local seasonal movements. This species is a regular vagrant outside its breeding range. There are a number of subspecies and populations of which C.d.japonica breeds in eastern Asia and winters in Thailand, Burma, India and northern Australia. Presumably this is a photo of C.d.japonica therefore.

Reference: BirdLife; Wikipedia