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Red-breasted Swallow
Cecropis semirufa
Identify the Red-breasted Swallow by sound or photo and log your sightings with Birdpass.
The Red-breasted Swallow is a sleek African swallow with rich rufous underparts and rump, a glossy blue-black crown and back and long tail streamers. Widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, it is a summer visitor to southern Africa and a rainy-season breeder further north. It favours open, drier country and builds a closed mud nest with a long, tubular entrance.
Did you know?
- Its mud nests are often taken over by White-rumped Swifts.
- It has benefited from modern structures, readily nesting under road and railway bridges.
About the species
Identification
A large swallow with deep rufous underparts, rump and cheeks, glossy dark blue upperparts extending below the eye, and very long outer tail streamers. Told from the Mosque Swallow by the dark cheeks and fully rufous throat.
Family
Hirundinidae
Size
Small (sparrow)
Colours
orange, black, blue, white
About the habitat
Dry, open country such as grassland and savanna; nests in cavities, under bridges and culverts, in buildings, tree holes and caves.
Diet
Small flying insects caught on the wing; it seldom lands on the ground and rests between foraging bouts on wires or exposed perches.
Behaviour
Usually seen singly or in pairs, with a slow, buoyant flight as it hawks insects high and low over open ground. It breeds solitarily, usually laying three eggs in its retort-shaped mud nest, which is often taken over by White-rumped Swifts.
Sources
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Red-breasted Swallow (Hirundo semirufa) (30987147586).jpg
Text: Wikipedia (English), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red-breasted_swallow
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