Crag Martin
|
|
| Crag Martin | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| Binomial name | ||||||||||||||
| Ptyonoprogne rupestris (Scopoli,, 1769) |
The Crag Martin, Ptyonoprogne rupestris, is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in the mountains of southern Europe, the Mediterranean and south Asia. Many European birds are resident, but some northern breeders and most Asian birds are migratory. They winter in north Africa or India.
Crag Martins are somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores, such as the related swallows and the unrelated swifts (order Apodiformes). They have brown upperparts and dusky underparts.
They resemble Sand Martins, but are larger, darker below, and lack a breast band. They are fast flyers and they swoop on insects while airborne. They have broad but pointed wings.
Crag Martins build neat quarter-sphere nests lined with mud collected in their beaks, and lay 3-5 eggs. They normally nest under cliff overhangs in their mountain homes, but will readily adapt to buildings and motorway bridges. They do not normally form large breeding colonies, but are gregarious outside the breeding season.