{{redirect|European swallow|the well-known plot element|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}{{redirect|European swallow|the well-known plot element|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}
{{Taxobox
| name = Sand Martin Bird
| image = Riparia Riparia-2006-Ejdzej-1.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| image_caption = Adult at nest site,
DziwnówekDziwnówek is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Dziwnów, within Kamień County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland. It lies approximately north-east of Dziwnów, north of Kamień Pomorski, and north of the regional capital Szczecin.Before 1945 the area was part of...
(
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
)
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| regnum = Animalia
| phylum = Chordata
| classis = Aves
| subclassis = Neornithes
| infraclassis =
NeognathaeNeognaths are birds within the subclass Neornithes of the class Aves. The Neognathae include virtually all living birds; their sister taxon Palaeognathae contains the tinamous - their only order capable of flight - as well as the flightless ratites.There are nearly 10,000 species of neognaths...
| superordo = Neoaves
| ordo = Passeriformes
| subordo = Passeri
| infraordo =
PasseridaPasserida is under the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, one of two "parvorders" contained within the suborder Passeri...
| superfamilia = Sylvioidea
| familia = Hirundinidae
| genus =
RipariaRiparia is a small genus of passerine birds in the swallow family. The species, in taxonomic order, are:* Brown-throated Sand Martin Riparia paludicola* Congo Sand Martin, Riparia congica...
| species =
R. riparia
| binomial =
Riparia riparia
| binomial_authority = (
LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature...
, 1758)
| synonyms =
Hirundo riparia Linnaeus, 1758
Riparia diluta (but see text)
}}
The
Sand Martin (
Riparia riparia) is a
migratoryBird migration is the regular seasonal journey undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather. These however are usually irregular or in only one direction and are termed variously as nomadism, invasions,...
passerineA passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders:...
birdBirds are winged, bipedal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay eggs. There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Birds range in size from the Bee Hummingbird to the ...
in the
swallowThe swallows and martins are a group of passerine birds in the family Hirundinidae which are characterised by their adaptation to aerial feeding...
family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the whole of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
and the Mediterranean countries, part of northern
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
and also
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
. It winters in eastern and southern
AfricaAfrica is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area. With a billion people in 61 territories, it accounts for about 14.8% of the...
,
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
and
South AsiaSouth Asia, also known as Southern Asia, is the southern region of the Asian continent, which comprises the sub-Himalayan countries and, for some authorities , also includes the adjoining countries on the west and the east...
. It is known as
Bank Swallow in North America, and as
Collared Sand Martin in South Asia, and sometimes as
European Sand Martin.
Description, systematics and taxonomy
The 12-cm-long Sand Martin is brown above, white below with a narrow brown band on the breast; the bill is black, the legs brown. The young have rufous tips to the coverts and margins to the secondaries.
Its brown back, white throat, small size and quick jerky flight separate it at once from similar swallows, such as the
House MartinThe House Martin , sometimes called the Northern House Martin or Common House Martin, is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family which breeds in Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia; and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia...
(
Delichon urbicum), the
Cliff SwallowThe Cliff Swallow is a member of the passerine bird family Hirundinidae — the swallows and martins.It breeds in North America, and is migratory, wintering in western South America from Venezuela southwards to northeast Argentina. This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe.This bird...
(
Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) or other species of
RipariaRiparia is a small genus of passerine birds in the swallow family. The species, in taxonomic order, are:* Brown-throated Sand Martin Riparia paludicola* Congo Sand Martin, Riparia congica...
. Only the
Banded MartinThe Banded Martin or Banded Sand Martin, Riparia cincta, is a small passerine bird in the swallow family.The Banded Martin is found in open habitats such as farmland, grassland and savannah, usually near water...
(
R. cincta) of
sub-Saharan AfricaSub-Saharan Africa is a geographical term used to describe the area of the African continent which lies south of the Sahara, or those African countries which are fully or partially located south of the Sahara...
is similar, but the Sand Martin only occurs there in winter.
The
Pale Martin is the
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is 1) a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, or 2) a taxonomic unit, a taxon in that rank...
diluta of northern
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
and southeastern
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
is sometimes split as a separate species
Riparia diluta. It has paler grey-brown upperparts and a less distinct breast band. It winters in
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
and southern India.
The Sand Martin's twittering song is continuous when the birds are on the wing, and becomes a conversational undertone after they have settled in the roost. The harsh alarm is heard when a passing
falconA falcon is any species of raptor in the genus Falco. The word comes from their Latin name falco, related to Latin falx because of the shape of these birds' wings.-Overview:...
,
crowThe true crows are large passerine birds that form the genus Corvus in the family Corvidae. Ranging in size from the relatively small pigeon-sized jackdaws to the Common Raven of the Holarctic region and Thick-billed Raven of the highlands of Ethiopia, the 40 or so members of this genus occur on...
or other suspected predator requires combined action to drive it away.
This species was first described by
LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature...
in his
Systema naturae in 1758, and originally named
Hirundo riparia; the description consisted of the simple
H[irundo] cinerea, gula abdomineque albis – "an ash-grey swallow, with white throat and belly" –, and the type locality was simply given as "Europa". The
specific nameIn zoological nomenclature, a specific name is the second part in the name of a species...
means "of the riverbank"; it is derived from the
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
ripa "riverbank".
Ecology
Linnaeus already remarked on this species' breeding habits:
Habitat in Europae collibus arenosis abruptis, foramine serpentino – "it lives in Europe, in winding holes in sheer sandy hills". It is generally found near larger bodies of water, such as
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s,
lakeA lake is a terrain feature , a body of liquid on the surface of a world that is localized to the bottom of basin and moves slowly if it moves at all. Another definition is, a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size that is surrounded by land...
s or even the
oceanAn ocean is a large body of saline water, and a principal component of the hydrosphere. Approximately 75% of the Earth's surface is covered by ocean, a continuous body of water that is customarily divided into several principal oceans and smaller seas.More than half of this area is over 3,000...
, throughout the year.
The Sand Martin appears on its breeding grounds as the first of its family, starting towards the end of March, just in advance of the
Barn Swallow{{redirect|European swallow|the well-known plot element|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}{{redirect|European swallow|the well-known plot element|Monty Python and the Holy Grail}}{{Taxobox| name = Barn Swallow| status = LC| status_ref =...
. In northern
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
, they arrive in numbers by mid-April in our time, about 10 days earlier than they did 100 years ago. At first, they flit over the larger bodies of water alone, in search of early flies. Later parties accompany other swallow species, but for a time, varying according to weather, the birds remain at these large waters and does not visit its nesting haunts. The Sand Martin departs early, at any rate from its more northerly haunts. In August, the gatherings at the nightly roost increase enormously, though the advent and departure of passage birds causes great irregularity in numbers. They are essentially gone from their breeding range by the end of September.
The food consists of small insects, mostly
gnatA gnat is one of several species of tiny flying insects in the Dipterid suborder Nematocera, especially those in the families Mycetophilidae, Anisopodidae and Sciaridae....
s and other flies whose early stages are
aquaticAn aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...
.
The Sand Martin is sociable in its nesting habits; from a dozen to many hundred pairs will nest close together, according to available space. The nests are at the end of tunnels of from a few inches to three or four feet in length, bored in sand or gravel. The actual nest is a litter of straw and feathers in a chamber at the end of the burrow; it soon becomes a hotbed of parasites. Four or five white eggs are laid about mid-late May, and a second brood is usual in all but the most northernly breeding sites.
This is not a rare bird, and it is classified as Species of
Least ConcernLeast Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, nor Near Threatened, nor Conservation Dependent...
by the IUCN.
External links
{{commons|Riparia riparia}}
{{wiktionary|sand-martin}}
- Heneberg, P. Soil particle composition affects the physical characteristics of Sand Martin Riparia riparia holes. Ibis 145(3)/2003:392-399.
- Heneberg, P. Size of sand grains as a significant factor affecting the nesting of bank swallows (Riparia riparia).Soil particle composition affects the physical characteristics of Sand Martin Riparia riparia holes. Biologia 56(2)/2001:205-210.
- Petr Heneberg, Jiří Šírek, Vlasta Škorpíková, Karel Šimeček, Jiří Šafránek, Daniel Mazánek, Zdeněk Hubálek, Eva Jeřábková. Overview of sand martin (Riparia riparia) localities in the Czech Republic. Linzer biologische Beiträge 38(2)/2006:1413-1447.
- Sand Martin by Javier Blasco-Zumeta
- Bank Swallow, Cornell Lab. of Ornithology
- Bank Swallow, Environment Canada
- Bank Swallow, Birds of Nova Scotia
- Bank Swallow, Talk about Wildlife