Delichon is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family. It contains three species named as house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds. They are closely related to other swallows that build mud nests. They breed only in Europe, Asia and the mountains of North Africa.
About Delichon in brief
Delichon is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family. It contains three species named as house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and with white or grey underparts. They are closely related to other swallows that build mud nests, particularly the Hirundo barn swallows. They breed only in Europe, Asia and the mountains of North Africa. Two species migrate south in winter, while the Nepal house martin is resident in the Himalayas year-round. The typical clutch is two or three white eggs; both parents build the nest, incubate the eggs and feed the chicks. Despite their flying skills the Delichon martins are sometimes caught by fast-flying birds of prey. They may carry fleas or internal parasites. None of the species are considered threatened, although widespread reductions in common house Martin numbers have been reported from central and northern Europe. This decline is due to factors including poor weather, poisoning by agricultural pesticides, lack of mud for nest building and competition with house sparrows for nest sites. All three species breeding only in the Northern Hemisphere.
The name of the new genus, \”Delich on\”, is an anagram of the Ancient Greek term χάλιδονchelidôn, meaning swallow. The genus contains three similar species: The common and Asian house Martins have sometimes been considered to be a single species, although both breed in the western Himalayanas without hybridising. The preferred habitat of the common housemartin is open meadows with low vegetation, such as pasture, meadows and farmland, near water. As altitude increases, the species will breed in city centres if the air is clean enough. The other two species favour mountainous country buildings as their nest sites are less frequently clean than their northern relative. It is also found at least 2,200metres in mountains up to at least two,200 metres in mountains. The species that breeds in Southeast Asia, its nominate subspecies, winters in the central mountains of central and eastern Asia, but the races breeding just south of the Himalayan and Taiwan may just move from high mountains to lower altitudes. Its western subspecies D. u.urbicum winters in tropical Africa, and eastern D u.u.lagopodum moves to southern China and Southeast Asia; its nominate subspecies winters further south.
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This page is based on the article Delichon published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
