![]() This image was taken in heavily overcast conditions but still shows the contrasting dark underwing coverts and dusky underparts with white throat. Asian House Martin, Chang Bai Shan, 3 June 2012. Note the dark underwing coverts – a good feature of Asian House Martin – as well as the dusky-looking underparts and dark neck ‘collar’. To the European readers of this blog, it’ll be worth making a mental note of these features when checking out those late autumn migrants….! Asian House Martin, Laotieshan, 27 September 2011. Capturing any hirundine in flight with a camera is never easy, and the images below won’t win any prizes, but they do show some of the features to look out for in separating Asian House Martin from Northern House Martin. My recent visit to Chang Bai Shan in Jilin Province provided an opportunity to get to grips with Asian House Martin as several pairs were nest-building on our hotel, allowing some fantastic views. I have seen a handful of both Asian (presumably the nominate subspecies) and Northern House Martins at Laotieshan in Liaoning Province but, in a sign of just how scarce they are in this region, I have still not seen one of either species in Beijing ( they are passage migrants and seen in small numbers each spring and autumn – clearly I just haven’t been trying hard enough!). In eastern China any sighting of a House Martin is notable. Its wintering grounds are unknown, but birds in Taiwan apparently just move to lower altitudes in winter. The third race, ssp nigrimentalis, breeds in southeastern China and southern Siberia. It is a short-range migrant, mainly wintering at lower altitudes in the foothills of the Himalayas. ![]() Ssp cashmeriensis breeds in the Himalayas from Afghanistan east to Sikkim and northwards into Tibet and western and central China. It breeds in southeast Russia, the Kuril Islands, Japan and Korea and migrates through eastern China to winter in the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, the Philippines, Java and Sumatra. The nominate subspecies of Asian House Martin is perhaps the most likely to wander. However, looking very similar to Northern House Martin, its common European sister-species, how many people would be able to identify one? At least one of the three subspecies is a strong and long distance migrant. Asian House Martin ( Delichon dasypus) must be a candidate for vagrancy to Western Europe.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |