The white-eyed river martin is a passerine bird, one of only two members of the rivermartin subfamily of the swallows. First found in 1968, it is known only from a single wintering site in Thailand, and may be extinct, since it has not been seen since 1980. It may possibly still breed in China or Southeast Asia, but a Chinese painting initially thought to depict this species was later reassessed as showing pratincoles.
About White-eyed river martin in brief
The white-eyed river martin is a passerine bird, one of only two members of the rivermartin subfamily of the swallows. First found in 1968, it is known only from a single wintering site in Thailand, and may be extinct, since it has not been seen since 1980. It may possibly still breed in China or Southeast Asia, but a Chinese painting initially thought to depict this species was later reassessed as showing pratincoles. The adult is a medium-sized swallow, with mainly glossy greenish-black plumage, a white rump, and a tail which has two elongated slender central tail feathers, each widening to a racket-shape at the tip. It has a white eye ring and a broad, bright green-yellow bill. The sexes are similar in appearance, but the juvenile lacks the tail ornaments and is generally browner than the adult. Little is known of the behaviour or breeding habitat of this martin, although like other swallows it feeds on insects caught in flight, and its wide bill suggests that it may take relatively large species. The winter swallow roosts at the only known location of the martin have greatly reduced in numbers, and birds using river habitats for breeding have declined throughout the region. The martin’s apparent demise may have been hastened by trapping, loss of habitat and the construction of dams.
The species name sirintarae commemorates Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand. The wings are black, brown to the inner edges, with narrow white inner edges to the outer edges, and the inner flight and flight feathers are bright green. The head is darker than the back, with a leading-black band leading to blue-green under-black leading to blue-black under-green. The upper tail is glossed black, and is separated from the similarly coloured upper tail by a narrow white band. The underside of the wings is black, with black inner flight, with brown inner flight edges and the narrow white flight and inner flight feathers. It is one of the only two birds endemic to Thailand and the country’s government has noted this through the issues of a stamp and a high-value commemorative coin. These two species possess a number of distinctive features which mark them out from other swallow species, including their robust legs and feet, and stout bills. The African and Asian Pseudochelidon species differ markedly in the size of their bills and eyes, suggesting that they have different feeding ecologies. The Thai species also has a swollen, hard gape unlike the softer, fleshier, and much less prominent gape of the African river martins.
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This page is based on the article White-eyed river martin published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
