Western House Martin

The western, or common, house martin is 13 cm long with a wingspan of 26–29 cm and an average weight of 18.3 g. It is steel-blue above with a white rump and pure white underparts, including the underwings, and even the short legs have white downy feathering; it is found in both open country and near human habitation. It is a migratory swallow that breeds in Europe, north Africa and west-central Asia and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and south-western Asia, and has two accepted subspecies (Wikipedia, general species account).

It feeds on insects caught in flight and migrates to climates where flying insects are plentiful; it is a noisy species, especially at its breeding colonies. Four or five white eggs are usually laid, and the female does most of the incubation, which normally lasts 14–16 days (Wikipedia, general species account).