Name

Delichon urbicum

House martin

Framing

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Aves

Order: Passeriformes

Genus: Delichon

Species: urbicum

Habitat

Towns and cities at all altitudes, like swallows they hardly perch on the ground, but it is common to see them flying over urban centres or perched on wires in large flocks.

Feeding

Free. Gregarious, forming huge clusters of nests on buildings. Predator of flying insects.

Distribution

Nesting in the Palaearctic, wintering in the Ethiopian and Eastern regions

Conservation status

Not threatened

Additional information

Similar to the swallow, although somewhat smaller (14 cm), with shorter wings and tail, the fork of the tail is only a slight notch, the belly and throat are completely white and the back is bluish-black except for the obiscule, which is white (black in the barn swallow and white and orange in the golden swallow, which has a silhouette more similar to that of the barn swallow). It differs from the other planes (rock plane and sapper plane, which have similar silhouettes) by the completely white underparts and the white obiscule. The barrel nest differs from those of other hirundinids in that it has a closed front, with a narrow entrance hole, but no tunnel (which is present in the swallow's nest).