House martin flocks
Photo: Arne Ader
Translation: Liis
House martins
House martin; Common house martin Räästapääsuke Delichon urbica
The house martins, with a short forked tail with a white patch, often nest near people in village environments and cities. The upper parts of the birds have a blue-blackishly gleaming plumage, the entire underparts are white, and the sexes have similar plumages.
The sociable birds prefer to nest in colonies, and there is no quarrelsomeness to be seen in their mutual behaviour. Adults quite often nest twice, and it is easier for them because the adults are assisted in the feeding of the second clutch of chicks by the young birds of the previous clutch.
How do such giant flocks form, as the one in Arne’s photo or that you yourself may have noticed? At first the adults keep company with their chicks but gradually all the clutches of the colony gather. Within short other flocks join them, and so these giant flocks form.
The first swallow flocks embark on their departure halfway into August, and they migrate in daytime. Occasionally you may notice adult house martins still feeding nestlings in September when the earliest migrants are already half-way to the wintering areas – in Africa.
House martins
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