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More of those funny House Martins (Main Area)

posted by yoavpe, Messilat Tsion, Judean hills, 26.12.2008, 18:13

Hi guys,

Got back from Kenya a couple of weeks ago, where I did some ringing at fabulous Ngulia. There we trapped this amazing House Martin - 1st-cal Common I assume. I asked the local ringers, and all their House Martins in early winter look like this. Itai - is that true? It superficially reminded me very much the 'dusky' House Martins occasionaly seen in August - September, and discussed here before. They look very similar to this Kenya bird.

In August, an Asian House Martin was reported in Sweden. The images are extremely poor, but I wonder if the Swedes considered these dark Common House Martin as a pitfall?

One more interesting point is that the many Barn Swallows that we ringed in Ngulia were possibly of an eastern population that I have never seen in Israel - they look very different: pallid, washed out. Could these dusky House Martins belong to an eastern population too?

Looking forward to hear your ideas.

Yoav.

Complete thread:

• More of those funny House Martins - yoavpe, 26.12.2008, 18:13 (Main Area)