Red-chested Swallow
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| Red-chested Swallow | ||||||||||||||
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| Hirundo lucida Hartlaub, 1858 |
The Red-chested Swallow (Hirundo lucida) is a small non-migratory passerine bird found in Africa in West Africa, the Congo basin and Ethiopia. It has a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings.[1].
It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Barn Swallow, which it closely resembles. Red-chested Swallow differs in being slightly smaller than its migratory relative. It also has a narrower blue breast band, and the adult has shorter tail streamers. In flight, it looks paler underneath than Barn Swallow. Although the adult Red-chested Swallow is reasonably distinctive, juvenile can be confused with the juvenile Barn Swallow, which also has short tail streamers. However, juvenile Red-chested Swallow has a narrower breast band and more white in the tail.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Turner, Angela K; Chris Rose (1989). Swallows & martins : an identification guide and handbook. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-51174-7.
- ^ Barlow, Clive; Wacher, Tim; Disley, Tony (1997). A Field Guide to birds of The Gambia and Senegal. Pica Press. ISBN 1-873403-32-1.
