Red-rumped swallow

    Hirundo daurica

Castilian: Golondrina dáurica

Catalan: Oreneta cua-rogenca

Gallego: Andoriña dáurica

Euskera: Enara ipurgorria

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Passeriformes

Family: Hirundinidae

Migratory status: Summer resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

On the National List of Threatened Species, it appears in the “Of Special Interest” category. In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

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THREATS

It is not threatened, but is affected by the use of pesticides, disturbances during breeding season, the destruction of its nests and atmospheric pollution.

Length / size: 17 cm / 33 cm

Identification: Bird that is an agile, quick and acrobatic flier, and whose bill and legs are very short and whose tail is forked. Similar to the common swallow, but in this case the bird's nape, face, rump, underparts and front part of the wings and flanks are orange and streaked.

Song: It makes a short and sweet warbling sound, and is quieter than the barn swallow.

Diet: It feeds on flying ants, mosquitos, wasps, bugs, flies and small beetles, which it captures by chasing in acrobatic flights.

Reproduction: The breeding period begins in April, and it is a species that nests alone or in small colonies and that remains loyal to its breeding site. Both sexes build the nest, which is a semi-sphere of balls of mud with an entry tunnel, horizontally stuck under a ceiling or covering; they are repaired and reused for several years. They also both are responsible for incubating the eggs.

HABITAT

It occupies warm areas with Mediterranean vegetation, whether they are forests or grasslands, scrubland or pastureland; to nest, it moves to natural rocky enclaves and abandoned urban and rural structures such as bridges, subways and abandoned rural buidlings. It usually breeds between elevations of 500 and 1,000 metres.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: It is distributed throughout the peninsula, concentrated in the southwest quadrant, in Ceuta and in Melilla.

In Castile and León: It is distributed throughout the south of the community, in the Central System and Arribes del Duero; it breeds in the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca and Zamora.

Movements and migrations: The Iberian populations abandon their nests between August and September to spend the winter in Africa, in the western Sahel, and return beginning in February. Some winter irregularly.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of around 100000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: There is an estimated population of 400-600 breeding pairs.