Rocky swallow - description, habitat, interesting facts

There are many swallows that are common in different climatic regions. Today we will consider a nondescript representative of a feathered tribe, which is called only a rocky swallow. By name you can understand that these birds prefer to live in gorges, on rocks and other places of this kind. They are often found in Europe nesting in tunnels close to water sources. To date, experts have established that these birds increasingly prefer to live in buildings next to humans.

Description

1. Birds are large in size, not very brightly colored. They are rather inconspicuous than motley and attracting attention. The tail is wide enough, but shortened. At the tip there is a kind of fork, which is weakly expressed.
2. The upper part of the body is painted in a brown tone with sand splashes. The lower section is light, closer to the fawn in the abdominal part and brownish in the area under the tail.
3. The head is painted brown, tail of the same shade. The neck is fawn, bleached. In the abdomen there are ocher pigments. A distinctive feature is the presence of dark specks in the neck.
4. The feathers on the wings are rounded, wide, and may vary in length. Paws are light brown in color, there are no feathers on them. The beak is strong, pigmented in black. Individuals of male and female gender are almost the same, except that the males are slightly larger.
5. Young growth stands out slightly against the background of the adult generation. The lower part of the body is pigmented in an ocher light tone, the chest is also light along with the neck. Under the tail there is a transverse pattern.
6. This variety of swallows differs from the self-similar in that it has a nondescript color of plumage. The tail is wide, there are oval-shaped spots.
7. The specimens of the species under discussion are quite maneuverable, fast, and easy to fly. Begin the hunt near the rocky terrain. But if there is no food, they can go a little away and fly away.
8. When a bird notices prey, it hangs in the air in one place, spreading its wings. It goes down and rises, then grabs food. Now consider the overall features. Weight is 15-24 g., And the length of the hull is 15 cm. With a wingspan of 33 cm.

Habitat

1. The presented swallows mainly live in mountainous regions, which are located in the south of Eurasia. Such places stretch from the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula to the north-eastern part of China.
2. Also considered individuals live in Europe. Nesting sites can reach the northern regions of France, Austria and Germany. In addition, such birds are found on the territory of the Greater Caucasus.
3. The considered species predominantly inhabits the mountains of southern Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Nesting of such birds most often occurs in Tuva and Altai. Also, swallows nest in the southern, western and central regions of Mongolia.
4. Individuals who predominantly live in the southern parts prefer to lead a sedentary lifestyle. Birds that live in the Northern regions go for wintering to Africa, southeast Iran, the Arabian Peninsula and India.

Lifestyle

1. In habitual habitats, swallows predominantly inhabit gorges of output rocks and mountain slopes. In the nesting sites, the considered individuals arrive earlier than other birds. Most often this happens in April. Settlement takes place in small groups or in pairs.
2. Under no circumstances do such swallows form colonies. Birds try to build homes in almost impregnable places.In this case, the nests are always protected by sheer stones and rocks. They can also be located in caves and niches. The nests themselves are similar to the same dwellings as the village counterparts.
3. Only rocky swallows do not use animal hair, grass and stems when building nests. Therefore, dwellings are completely fragile. They do not serve longer than one season. Swallows line the bottom of the house from the leaves of cereal plants, followed by fluff and feathers.
4. At a time, no more than 5 eggs can be found in the clutch. They have a white color with numerous dark spots. After 20 days, young animals are born. A month later, he is already on the wing.

Rocky swallows predominantly feed on various insects. Such birds have a fairly wide habitat. Individuals are widespread, therefore, are not threatened with extinction. These swallows are distinguished by the fact that they lead a rather non-standard lifestyle. They live all the time in rocky terrain.