From Opus

Photo by Seyed Babak Musavi. Photo taken: Bandarabbas city, Iran

Ptyonoprogne fuligula

Hirundo fuligula

[edit] Identification

12-15cm. Earth-brown plumage, paler on the throat, breast and underwing coverts.

[edit] Distribution

Africa and Arabia.

[edit] Taxonomy

Previously in genus Hirundo.

[edit] Habitat

Rocky areas.

[edit] Behaviour

Its nest is a deep bowl on a horizontal surface or a neat quarter-sphere against a rock face or wall. It is constructed with mud pellets and lined with grass or feathers. The nest may be built on natural sites under cliff overhangs or on man-made structures such as buildings, dam walls, culverts and bridges. The nest may be reused for subsequent broods or in later years.

2-3 eggs, white with brown and grey blotches, are incubated by the female alone for 16-19 days to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22-24 days, but the young birds will return to the nest to roost for a few days after the first flight.

Its diet includes insects.

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