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After building the nest, barn swallows may nest colonially where sufficient high-quality nest sites are available, and within a colony, each pair defends a territory around the nest which, for the European subspecies, is 4 to 8 m 2 (40 to 90 sq ft) in size. Colony size tends to be larger in North America. [37]
The typical nest is a grass or feather-lined deep closed mud bowl with a small opening at the top, [12] but many Asian house martins leave the top of the nest open. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ] David Winkler and Frederick Sheldon believe that evolutionary development in the mud-building swallows, and individual species follow this order of construction.
It is much more urban than the barn swallow, and will nest even in city centres if the air is clean enough. [14] It is more likely to be found near trees than other Eurasian swallows, since they provide insect food and also roosting sites. This species does not normally use the reed-bed roosts favoured by migrating barn swallows. [16] [17]
Unlike its relatives, the Asian house martin frequently does not complete the enclosure of its nest, leaving it open instead like a deeper version of a barn swallow nest. A Russian study found half the nests in its Baikal research area to be of the open type, [15] and the Himalayan subspecies D. d. cashmiriensis has also been recorded as ...
Mud-nesting species in particular are limited in areas of high humidity, which causes the mud nests to crumble. Many cave-, bank-, and cliff-dwelling species of swallows nest in large colonies. Mud nests are constructed by both males and females, and amongst the tunnel diggers, the excavation duties are shared, as well.
The Cecropsis species construct a closed mud nest and therefore belong to the latter group. It is believed that the evolutionary sequence is from species that make open cup nests (Hirundo and Ptyonoprogne), through Delichon house martins with closed nests, to Cecropis and Petrochelidon, which have retort-like closed nests with an entrance ...
The wire-tailed swallow is a member of the genus Hirundo, a cosmopolitan group of "barn swallows". It has two subspecies: [5] H. s. smithii was first described by William Elford Leach and K. D. Koenig in 1818. [6] Known as the African wire-tailed swallow, it is found throughout Africa. [5] H. s. filifera was first described by Stephens in 1826. [6]
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