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Photo by rudydbn

Hirundo albigularis

[edit] Identification

14-17 cm. Glossy dark blue upperparts, bright chestnut crown, dark blue-black breast band, white throat, grey white underparts and underwing coverts, black-blue upper wings, underwing flight feathers and forked tail, undertail has white patches near the feather tips. Juveniles are duller than the adult, with shorter outer tail feathers and a browner crown.

[edit] Distribution

Angola, Zambia, southwards to the Cape in South Africa. It is mainly migratory, wintering in Angola, Zambia and southern Zaire.

[edit] Taxonomy

[edit] Habitat

Open country and grassland, with a preference for highlands and nearby water.

[edit] Behaviour

It builds a bowl-shaped mud nest, lined with grass or hair, near or over water, on a ledge under an overhang on a rock face or on a man-made structure such as a building. 3 white with brown and blue blotches eggs are laid and are incubated by the female for 15-16 days. Both parents feed the chicks which fledge 20-21 days later.

The diet includes flying insects.

[edit] External Links