Nepal House Martin
Encyclopedia
The Nepal House Martin (Delichon nipalense) is a non-migratory
passerine
of the swallow
family Hirundinidae. Its two subspecies breed in the Himalayas from northwestern India
through Nepal
to Burma, northern Vietnam
, and just into China
. It occurs in river valleys and rugged wooded mountain ridges at heights between 1000–4000 m (3,300–13,200 ft) altitude, where it nests in colonies beneath overhangs on vertical cliffs, laying three or four white eggs in an enclosed mud nest.
This martin has blue-black upperparts with a contrasting white rump, and white underparts. It resembles its close relatives, the Asian House Martin
and Common House Martin, but unlike those species it has a black throat and black undertail. It feeds in flocks with other swallows, catching flies and other insects in flight. It is subject to predation and parasites, but its status within its limited range appears secure.
in 1854, and placed in a new genus Delichon created by Moore and American naturalist
Thomas Horsfield
. The specimen or its description was attributed by Moore to Brian Houghton Hodgson
and early literature sometimes refers to in as Hodgson's Martin. Some older taxonomic sources such as those by S D Ripley
specify the binomial author as "Hodgson = Moore in Horsfield & Moore, 1854". Its closest relatives are the two other members of the genus, the Asian House Martin and the Common House Martin. This martin has a distinctive subspecies, D. n. cuttingi, described by American biologist Ernst W. Mayr in 1941 from a specimen taken near the Burma-Yunnan
border. White-throated birds in the southern extension of the range are similar in appearance to the nominate subspecies, but because of their geographical separation are sometimes considered to be a third race, D. n. bartletti.
Delichon is an anagram
of the Ancient Greek term χελιδών (chelīdōn), meaning 'swallow', and nipalense refers to Nepal, where the type specimen
was obtained.
east through Nepal, northeastern India and Bangladesh
as far as western Burma. The race D. n. cuttingi is found in northern Burma, along Burma's border with Chinese Yunnan
and in northern Tonkin
, Vietnam. The Nepal House Martin is largely resident, but may move to lower altitudes when not breeding, and has been occasionally recorded in northern Thailand in winter. The range in Thailand is poorly known.
The habitat is river valleys and wooded ridges at 1000–4000 m (3,300–13,200 ft) altitude, although mainly below 3000 m (9,900 ft). When not breeding, birds may descend as low as 350 m (1,150 ft). The range of this species overlaps with that of the nominate subspecies of Asian House Martin, although they breed at different altitudes. The height separation and the small differences in appearance seem sufficient to prevent interbreeding.
The eastern form D. n. cuttingi has a wing length of 99–106 mm (3.9–4.2 in), slightly larger than the nominate subspecies at 90–98 mm (3.5–3.9 in). Both subspecies can be distinguished from the similar Asian and Common House Martins by to their black chin, black undertail coverts
and much squarer tail.
This is an exceptionally fast-flying martin which gives an occasional short chi-i call in flight. It is otherwise is a rather quiet bird, but it has a brief three-note breeding song.
this bird is recorded as nesting under school roofs near the Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary. This martin is a colonial breeder, with colonies sometimes containing hundreds of nests. Some birds may remain at the colonies throughout the year, using the nests as a winter roost. The normal clutch is three or four plain white eggs averaging 18.6 x 12.8 mm (0.73 x 0.50 in) and weighing 1.6 g (0.06 oz). The incubation and fledging times are unknown, but are probably similar to those of the Common House Martin, which has an incubation period of 14–16 days until the eggs hatch, and a further 22–32 days to fledging. Both sexes build the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.
. This bird is gregarious, feeding in flocks often with other aerial predators like the Himalayan Swiftlet
, or other hirundines
such as the Barn Swallow
, Striated Swallow
or Common House Martin.
. It is parasitised by a flea of the genus Callopsylla.
Bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. Sometimes, journeys are not termed "true migration" because they are irregular or in only one direction...
passerine
Passerine
A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...
of the swallow
Swallow
The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
family Hirundinidae. Its two subspecies breed in the Himalayas from northwestern India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
through Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
to Burma, northern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, and just into China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. It occurs in river valleys and rugged wooded mountain ridges at heights between 1000–4000 m (3,300–13,200 ft) altitude, where it nests in colonies beneath overhangs on vertical cliffs, laying three or four white eggs in an enclosed mud nest.
This martin has blue-black upperparts with a contrasting white rump, and white underparts. It resembles its close relatives, the Asian House Martin
Asian House Martin
The Asian House Martin is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has mainly blue-black upperparts, other than its white rump, and has pale grey underparts. Its three subspecies breed in the Himalayas and in central and eastern Asia, and spend the winter lower in the...
and Common House Martin, but unlike those species it has a black throat and black undertail. It feeds in flocks with other swallows, catching flies and other insects in flight. It is subject to predation and parasites, but its status within its limited range appears secure.
Taxonomy
The Nepal House Martin was first described by British entomologist Frederic MooreFrederic Moore
Frederic Moore FZS was a British entomologist. It has been said that Moore was born at 33 Bruton Street but may be incorrect given that this was the address of the menagerie and office of the Zoological Society of London from 1826 to 1836.Moore was appointed an assistant in the East India Company...
in 1854, and placed in a new genus Delichon created by Moore and American naturalist
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield
Thomas Horsfield M. D. was an American physician and naturalist.Horsfield was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the grandson of Timothy Horsfield, Sr., a colonel and justice of the peace in Bethlehem, and a friend mentioned in Benjamin...
. The specimen or its description was attributed by Moore to Brian Houghton Hodgson
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Brian Houghton Hodgson was an early naturalist and ethnologist working in British India and Nepal where he was an English civil servant. He described many species, especially birds and mammals from the Himalayas, and several birds were named after him by others such as Edward Blyth...
and early literature sometimes refers to in as Hodgson's Martin. Some older taxonomic sources such as those by S D Ripley
Sidney Dillon Ripley
Sidney Dillon Ripley was an American ornithologist and wildlife conservationist. He served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution from 1964-1984.-Biography:...
specify the binomial author as "Hodgson = Moore in Horsfield & Moore, 1854". Its closest relatives are the two other members of the genus, the Asian House Martin and the Common House Martin. This martin has a distinctive subspecies, D. n. cuttingi, described by American biologist Ernst W. Mayr in 1941 from a specimen taken near the Burma-Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
border. White-throated birds in the southern extension of the range are similar in appearance to the nominate subspecies, but because of their geographical separation are sometimes considered to be a third race, D. n. bartletti.
Delichon is an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
of the Ancient Greek term χελιδών (chelīdōn), meaning 'swallow', and nipalense refers to Nepal, where the type specimen
Holotype
A holotype is a single physical example of an organism, known to have been used when the species was formally described. It is either the single such physical example or one of several such, but explicitly designated as the holotype...
was obtained.
Distribution and habitat
The nominate subspecies D. n. nipalense breeds in the Himalayas from GarhwalGarhwal Division
Garhwal is the north-western region and administrative division of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand which is home to the Garhwali people. Lying in the Himalayas, It is bounded on the north by Tibet, on the east by Kumaon region, on the south by Uttar Pradesh state, and on the north-west by...
east through Nepal, northeastern India and Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
as far as western Burma. The race D. n. cuttingi is found in northern Burma, along Burma's border with Chinese Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
and in northern Tonkin
Tonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
, Vietnam. The Nepal House Martin is largely resident, but may move to lower altitudes when not breeding, and has been occasionally recorded in northern Thailand in winter. The range in Thailand is poorly known.
The habitat is river valleys and wooded ridges at 1000–4000 m (3,300–13,200 ft) altitude, although mainly below 3000 m (9,900 ft). When not breeding, birds may descend as low as 350 m (1,150 ft). The range of this species overlaps with that of the nominate subspecies of Asian House Martin, although they breed at different altitudes. The height separation and the small differences in appearance seem sufficient to prevent interbreeding.
Description
The adult Nepal House Martin is 13 cm (5 in) long, mainly blue-black above and white below. It has a contrasting pure white rump, the tail and upperwings are brownish-black, and the underwings are grey-brown. The legs and feet are brownish-pink and covered with white feathers, the eyes are brown, and the bill is black. The chin is black but the extent varies clinally. In the northeast of the range, birds of the race D. n. cuttingi have black on the whole of the throat and the uppermost breast, but further west or south the black increasingly becomes restricted to the chin. There are no differences in appearance between the sexes, but the juvenile bird is less glossy and has a duskier throat and buff-washed underparts.The eastern form D. n. cuttingi has a wing length of 99–106 mm (3.9–4.2 in), slightly larger than the nominate subspecies at 90–98 mm (3.5–3.9 in). Both subspecies can be distinguished from the similar Asian and Common House Martins by to their black chin, black undertail coverts
Covert (feather)
A covert feather on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts, which as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail.- Wing-coverts :...
and much squarer tail.
This is an exceptionally fast-flying martin which gives an occasional short chi-i call in flight. It is otherwise is a rather quiet bird, but it has a brief three-note breeding song.
Breeding
The Nepal House Martin breeds between March and July, with some variation in timing depending on locality, and usually raises two broods. It normally builds its nest, a deep mud bowl lined with grasses or feathers, under an overhang on a vertical cliff. Very occasionally, buildings may be used as nest sites, and in SikkimSikkim
Sikkim is a landlocked Indian state nestled in the Himalayan mountains...
this bird is recorded as nesting under school roofs near the Fambong Lho Wildlife Sanctuary. This martin is a colonial breeder, with colonies sometimes containing hundreds of nests. Some birds may remain at the colonies throughout the year, using the nests as a winter roost. The normal clutch is three or four plain white eggs averaging 18.6 x 12.8 mm (0.73 x 0.50 in) and weighing 1.6 g (0.06 oz). The incubation and fledging times are unknown, but are probably similar to those of the Common House Martin, which has an incubation period of 14–16 days until the eggs hatch, and a further 22–32 days to fledging. Both sexes build the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the chicks.
Feeding
The Nepal House Martin feeds on insects taken in flight, hunting along ridges or above treetops. The diet is not well known, but includes fliesFly
True flies are insects of the order Diptera . They possess a pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax...
. This bird is gregarious, feeding in flocks often with other aerial predators like the Himalayan Swiftlet
Himalayan Swiftlet
The Himalayan Swiftlet, Aerodramus brevirostris, is a small swift. It is a common colonial breeder in the Himalayas and Southeast Asia. Some populations are migratory....
, or other hirundines
Swallow
The swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
such as the Barn Swallow
Barn Swallow
The Barn Swallow is the most widespread species of swallow in the world. It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts, a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings. It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas...
, Striated Swallow
Striated Swallow
The Striated Swallow is a species of swallow found in open, often hilly areas, clearings and cultivation in South and Southeast Asia from northeastern India and Taiwan south to Timor...
or Common House Martin.
Predators and parasites
Predators of this martin have been little studied, but it was the only bird recorded in a study of the diet of the mainly insectivorous Collared FalconetCollared Falconet
The Collared Falconet is a species of bird of prey in the Falconidae family.It is found in the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, ranging across Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam.Its natural habitat is temperate forests.-References:* BirdLife...
. It is parasitised by a flea of the genus Callopsylla.
Conservation status
The Nepal House Martin has a large range that does not appear to be contracting, and its numbers appear to be stable, although the population is unknown. Since the range is more than 20000 square kilometres (7,722 sq mi), and there are more 10,000 mature individuals, in the absence of any large decline in distribution or numbers the species does not appear to meet the criteria to be considered vulnerable, and is currently evaluated as Least Concern. Although often localised due to the requirement for suitable cliff nesting sites, this species is fairly common in Nepal as a whole, and very common in some regions. Some earlier authors have noted this species as uncommon in Nepal.External links
- Photograph at the Internet Bird Collection