Everything about The House Martin totally explained
The
House Martin (
Delichon urbicum), sometimes called the
Northern House Martin or
Common House Martin, is a
migratory passerine bird of the
swallow family which breeds in
Europe, north
Africa and temperate
Asia; and winters in
sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. It feeds on insects which are caught in flight, and it migrates to climates where flying insects are plentiful. It has a blue head and upperparts, white rump and pure white underparts, and is found in both open country and near human habitation. It is similar in appearance to the two other martin
species of the
Delichon genus, which are both endemic to eastern and southern Asia. It has two accepted
subspecies. but was placed in its current genus
Delichon by
Thomas Horsfield and
Frederic Moore in 1854.
Delichon is an
anagram of the
Ancient Greek term
χελιδών (
chelīdōn), meaning 'swallow', and the species name
urbicum (
urbica until 2004, due to a misunderstanding of Latin grammar) means 'of the town' in
Latin.
Habitat
The preferred habitat of the House Martin is open country with low vegetation, such as pasture, meadows and farmland, and preferably near water, although it's also found in mountains up to at least 2,200 metres (7,200 ft) altitude.
It uses similar open habitats on the wintering grounds, but the House Martin is less conspicuous than wintering Barn Swallows, tending to fly higher and be more nomadic. In the tropical parts of its wintering range, like
East Africa and
Thailand, it appears to be mainly found in the higher areas.
Migration
The House Martin is a
migrant which moves on a broad-front (for example European birds are not funnelled through the short sea crossings used by large soaring birds, but cross the Mediterranean and
Sahara). While migrating they feed in the air on insects, Migration brings its own hazards; in 1974, several hundred thousand birds of this species were found dead or dying in the
Swiss Alps and surrounding areas, caught by heavy snowfall and low temperatures. Adult survival on autumn migration depends mainly on temperature, with precipitation another major factor, but for juveniles low temperatures during the breeding season are more critical.
The House Martin returns to the breeding grounds a few days after the first Barn Swallows; like that species, particularly when the weather is poor, it seldom goes straight to the nesting sites, but hunts for food over large fresh water bodies. As would be expected for a long distance migrant, it has occurred as a vagrant eastwards to
Alaska and west to
Newfoundland,
Bermuda and the
Azores.
Description
The adult House Martin of the western nominate race is 13 centimetres (5.1 in) long, with a wing span of 26–29 centimetres (10.2–11.4 in) and a weight averaging 18.3 grammes (0.65 oz). It is steel-blue above with a white rump, and white underparts, including the underwings; even its short legs have white downy feathering. It has brown eyes and a small black bill, and its toes and exposed parts of the legs are pink. The sexes are similar, but the juvenile bird is sooty black, and some of its wing
coverts and quills have white tips and edgings.
D. u. lagopodum differs from the nominate race in that its white rump extends much further onto the tail, and the fork of its tail is intermediate in depth between that of
D. u. urbicum and that of the Asian House Martin.
The House Martin is a noisy species, especially at its breeding colonies. The male's song, given throughout the year, is a soft twitter of melodious chirps. The contact call, also given on the wintering grounds, is a hard
chirrrp, and the alarm is a shrill
tseep.
The House Martin tends to breed colonially, and nests may be built in contact with each other. A
colony size of less than 10 nests is typical, but there are records of colonies with thousands of nests. Four or five white eggs are usually laid, which average 1.9 x 1.33 centimetres (0.75 x 0.52 in) in size, and weigh 1.7 grammes (0.06 oz). The female does most of the incubation, which normally lasts 14-16 days. The newly hatched chicks are
altricial, and after a further 22–32 days, depending on weather, the chicks leave the nest. The fledged young stay with, and are fed by, the parents for about a week after leaving the nest. Occasionally, first-year birds from the first brood will assist in feeding the second brood.
The House Martin has been regularly recorded as hybridising with the Barn Swallow, this being one of the most common passerine interspecific crosses. The frequency of this hybrid has led to suggestions that
Delichon isn't sufficiently separated genetically from
Hirundo to be considered a separate genus.
It is parasitised externally by
fleas and
mites, including the "House Martin Flea",
Ceratophyllus hirundinis, and internally by
endoparasites such as
Haemoproteus prognei (avian
malaria), which are transmitted by blood-sucking insects including mosquitoes. A Polish study showed that nests typically contained more than 29 specimens of ectoparasite, with
C. hirundinis and
Oeciacus hirundinis the most abundant.
Conservation status
The House Martin has a large range, with an estimated global extent of 10 million square kilometres. For these reasons, the species is evaluated as "least concern" on the 2007 IUCN Red List,
This is a species which has greatly benefited historically from forest clearance creating the open habitats it prefers, and from human habitation which have both given it an abundance of safe man-made nest sites. As an attractive bird which feeds on flying insects, the House Martin has usually been tolerated by humans when it shares their buildings for nesting, although the accumulation of droppings below breeding birds can be a nuisance leading to some destruction of nests.
There are old legends, with no basis in fact, that House Martins would wall-up House Sparrows by closing the entrance of the mud nest with the intruder inside, or that they'd gather en masse to kill a Sparrow. It was the
cadency mark of the fourth son of a noble family, and features in many
coats of arms, including the
Plantagenets. The lack of feet signified its inability to land, which explained its link to a younger son, also landless. It also represented swiftness.
Further Information
Get more info on 'House Martin'.
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