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Wire-tailed Swallow

Hirundo smithii

Description:

This striking species is a small swallow at 14 cm in length. It has bright blue upperparts, except for a chestnut crown and white spots on the tail. The underparts are white, with darker flight feathers. There is a blue mask through the eye. This species gets its name from the very long filamentous outermost tail feathers, which trail behind like two wires. Sexes manifest similar appearances, but the female has shorter "wires". Juveniles have a brown crown, back and tail. The Asian form, H. s. filifera, is larger and longer-tailed than the abundant African H. s. smithii.

Notes:

The scientific name of this bird is after Professor Chetien Smith, a Norwegian botanist, who was a member of the British expedition to the Congo River in 1816, led by James Kingston Tuckey.

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1 Comment

Sachin Zaveri
Sachin Zaveri 11 years ago

Added first two pics,,

Sachin Zaveri
Spotted by
Sachin Zaveri

Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India

Spotted on Aug 29, 2012
Submitted on Aug 29, 2012

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