From Opus

Photo by Alan Manson
Bergville District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Riparia cincta

[edit] Identification

Length 17-18 cm, mass 26 g. A large Martin with a square tail.

Adult: Upper parts brown; a short (diagnostic) white eyebrow extends from the bill to above the eye. The under parts are white except for a broad brown breast band, a narrow brown line accross the vent (sometimes absent), and a brown undertail.
Juvenile: Similar to the adult but scaled buff above; eyebrow less prominent.

[edit] Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa; an intra-African migrant.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Subspecies^[1]

Riparia cincta has five subspecies:

• R. c. erlangeri:

• Ethiopia and Sudan (upper White Nile River)

• R. c. suahelica:

• Southern Sudan to Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique

• R. c. parvula:

• Northern Angola to south-western Zaire and north-western Zambia; winters to Cameroon

• R. c. xerica:

• Kalahari of northern Botswana and Namibia to Angola and western Zambia

• R. c. cincta:

• Zimbabwe and KwaZulu-Natal to Cape Province

[edit] Habitat

Grasslands, shrublands and wetlands.

[edit] Behaviour

Usually seen singly or in pairs, but roosts communally.

[edit] Diet

Forages for insects in slow, floating flight over grassland; attracted to grassland fires and grazing animals.

[edit] Breeding

Nests in a chamber at the end of a burrow (45-60 cm long) excavated in a bank. Two to four eggs are laid August to March. Parasitised by Greater Honeyguide.

[edit] References

1. Clements, JF. 2008. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2008. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist.

• List of references

[edit] External Links