Eastern Red-rumped Swallow
Cecropis daurica· 燕科(1 photos)
Eastern Red-rumped Swallow
16-18.5 cm. Large Eurasian swallow that migrates to Borneo and parts of Indonesia, occasionally reaching n. Aust. Note size; rusty rear eyebrow/collar, rusty or chestnut rump; underparts whitish, washed buff, rusty or uniform chestnut, with or without dark streaks. No white spots in tail; wing linings buff; undertail-coverts black. Immature: buffer, plainer below. Flight slower, heavier and more soaring than other swallows; note broad wings and rather thick tail streamers. Mixes with other swallows.
- Voice
- harsher than Barn Swallow; flight-call, nasal 'tweit', like Tree Sparrow; warbling twitter (European data).
- Habitat
- open country, overhead wires, swamps, grasslands, coasts.
- Range & Status
- breeds Eurasia, migrating to Africa, India, se. Asia; uncommon Non-breeding summer migrant to n. Sumatra, Borneo, PNG. First recorded Aust. Feb. 1983, when J. Squire saw c. 9 with Tree Martins on overhead wires and hawking over roadside swampy area between Mossman and Daintree R. (ne. Q). Subsequent sight-records: in Gulf of Carpentaria, Dec. 1990; Garradunga (Q), Jan. 1991; Yungaburra (Q), Broome (WA), Jan. 1992; Mossman region, Jan. 1996 etc.
- Distribution key to races
- 1. Cecropis daurica japonica
