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Pale Crag Martin - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by ammadoux
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, August 2018

Pale Rock Martin

Ptyonoprogne obsoleta

Hirundo obsoleta

Identification

Juvenile
Photo © by ghaffar
Kookherd, Hormozgan, Iran, April 2015

12·5–14 cm (5-5½ in)

  • Light brownish-grey upperparts
  • Creamy-white throat

Distribution

Africa, Middle East, Asia
Northern Africa: found in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt
Western Africa: Mauritania, Niger, Chad
Eastern Africa: Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Somalia
Middle East: Turkey, Israel, Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Iraq, Iran
Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan

Taxonomy

Previously in genus Hirundo.
Sometimes included in Rock Martin.

Subspecies

Photo © by Mike Barth
Ras al Khaimah, UAE, January 2011

There are 8 subspecies[1]:

  • P. f. presaharica:
  • P. f. spatzi:
  • South Algeria, south-western Libya and northern Chad
  • P. f. buchanani:
  • South-central Sahara (Aïr Massif of northern Niger)
  • P. f. obsoleta:
  • P. f. perpallida :
  • P. f. pallida:
  • P. f. arabica:
  • P. f. pusilla:

Habitat

Common breeding resident of mountains, foothills and high-rise buildings near Gulf coast.

Behaviour

Diet

Their diet consists almost entirely of flying insects, such as beetles, bees, wasps, ants, bugs and flies.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Avibase
  3. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Aug 2018)

Recommended Citation

External Links

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