House martin

the house martin ( Delichon urbicum ), of the big family of the Hirundinidae niche often - as its name indicates it above a window.

Description

By far, one distinguishes it from the Hirondelle of chimney by his pure white tail, a tail less fourchue and without nets, more than by his practices and places of vol. On the ground where it is seldom posed, or on the roofs, its short and emplumées legs of white give him an also characteristic pace.

The males are of a black more shining (with metal reflections) that females. The youthful ones present a plumage sometimes grisâtre on the sides.

Song

Its soft and regular cries (" tchirp" " tshirrip" , repeated) differ from those of the rustic swallow. The song is generally produced by the male from the interior of the nest.

Distribution and habitat

The house martin meets in all the Eurasia (except in the extreme north of the Siberia) and in Africa of the North-West. Contrary to his/her cousin " rustique" , it did not colonize the America (or it disappeared from it?).

It is thought that the ancestors of our house martin nested in colonies in the cliffs which they left with the profit of human architectures, moreover one still finds some nesting in anfractuosities of rock faces in the most wild areas. She is more urban than the rustic Hirondelle and she niche more readily than she in mountain. She lives around the nests in period of reproduction, or gathers in dormitory in the trees out of this period.

Behaviors

The flight of the house martin is more flexible, planing and slow that of the rustic swallow.

Per good weather, it flies to very high-altitude but returns quickly to the nest to nourish the small ones. In the event of danger, an individual can alert the colony. Can the night, the individuals of a nest suddenly (dream?) or following a noise puts itself at piailler for a few seconds or a few minutes.

A Grooming careful, with smoothing and resequencing of the feathers is carried out with the rising of the sun near the nest before the great flights (when the small ones grow, the birds are very tight in the nest). The family and social relations are very developed, in particular maintained by the communication (song), the joint construction of nests and hunting in group. It is at this time that one sees sometimes swallows seeming to eat in the droppings accumulated in the gutters, behavior which remains to be interpreted (consumption of insects attracted by this basket?).

They pass very close to the ground or the water which they can touch of the end of the wings or their belly. It happens that they are posed on the ground, on wet sand for example. Exceptionally they penetrate in a room, a few seconds before coming out from it.

Reproduction

The two parents build a hemispherical nest with mud pellets taken at the edge of water in the vicinity, or under the rain, mixed with saliva (which could also have a role disinfecting in addition to the consolidation and the joining of the pellets with the wall and between them). It seems that the swallow can voluntarily mix with this ground the mucus or juice of ground worms which it presses. The wall of the nest can be reinforced grass, straws or algae near the ocean. The mother forms the nest and sometimes polishes some the interior by friction of its feathers. The nest is furnished with a more or less important layer of feathers. The nests are built in group of nests, and co-operation. It is protected from the rain, under a cornice or is generally inserted in an element of architecture (against a moulding or a beam for example). One also finds some under a rock overhang or in anfractuosities in the not anthropized zones. The nest is equipped with a small circular opening or oval round to the top which makes from there the access difficult for the other birds.

The laying begins in May with 3 to 5 white eggs brooded by the couple lasting approximately 14 days. Let us oisillons fly away after three or 4 weeks. It arrives, but seldom, that one second broods follows the first.

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