Overview

Sand Martin: Small swallow with brown upperparts, and a brown breast band seperating white underparts from white throat and chin. Tail is notched. Brown legs and feet. The smallest swallow in the UK. Swift, erratic flight, alternating several shallow, rapid wing beats with short to long glides.

Sand Martin: Summer visitor to most of the UK and Ireland. Begins to arrive in March and leaves by August. Spends the winter in Africa. Preferred habitats include riverbanks, creeks, seashores, and lakes, where ever there are sandy vertical banks for nesting. Also found nesting in quarries.

Voice Text

"pret", "trit-trit"

• The scientific name of the Sand Martin, Riparia, means “riverbank.”
• This species originally nested in the steep, sandy banks of rivers but have adapted to using many different man-made excavations.
• Most pairs in breeding colonies lay their eggs at the same time so they will be feeding nestlings at the same time. This means there will be a large number of adults searching for swarms of insects, which makes it more likely they will find them.
• A group of martins has many collective nouns, including a "circlage", "flight", "gulp", "richness", and "swoop" of martins.

• Swallow
• Swift
• House Martin
• Alpine Swift

Swallows (Hirundinidae)

ORDER

The swallows are one of the one hundred eighteen families of birds in the order PASSERIFORMES (pronounced pas-ser-i-FOR-meez); a large taxonomic order that includes waxwings, tanagers, finches, and swallows.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

A family distributed throughout most continents, the Hirundinidae (pronounced hir-un-DIN-uh-dee) are composed of eighty-eight species in nineteen genera (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

There are ten species of swallows in Europe in seven genera. European swallow species include well known birds such as the Barn Swallow and Common House Martin, and the less familiar Eurasian Crag Martin.

KNOWN FOR

The swallows are best known for their graceful, swooping flight and for nesting in barns, under bridges, and upon other human-made structures. The Sand Martin in particular is well known for nesting colonially in sandy river banks.

PHYSICAL

The long, pointed wings and streamlined bodies of swallows are evolutionary adaptations for their life in the air. These small birds have medium length to long tails that can be squared or forked in shape. Their bills are short with wide gapes, and their legs short with small feet.

COLORATION

Swallows come in variety of colours, although European species are often fairly dull overall with browns and white predominating. A few species, though, have upperparts with a bluish sheen, and reddish patches on the face and rump.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

This family is found throughout Europe except for Iceland and in the most inhospitable of tundra habitats. Swallows utilize a wide variety of non-forest habitats, but are most common around rivers, lakes, and wetlands that provide abundant food in the form of flying insects and nesting sites in the form of bridges, riverbanks, cliffs, and dead snags.

MIGRATION

Most swallow species are long distance migrants to Africa.

HABITS

Swallows are very social birds with many species nesting in colonies and foraging in flocks. Different species employ a variety of nesting techniques that include nesting in holes in the banks of rivers and lakes, in the hollows of dead trees, and mud nests which they build in caves, cliffs, and on structures such as bridges, barns, and buildings. Foraging for flying insects and other arthropods is done in the air with fast, graceful, swooping flight.

CONSERVATION

In Europe, no swallow species are threatened. This might be related to their preference for open, non-forest habitats, and their ability to nest on human-built structures.

INTERESTING FACTS

In North America, eastern populations of the Purple Martin became adapted to breeding in gourds set out by Native Americans before Europeans arrived. Eventually, they became so used to breeding in structures set up by people that these eastern populations have become reliant upon bird boxes for breeding and no longer use natural cavities as their western North American cousins still do.

Artist

Yury Lisyak