Animalia > Chordata > Aves > Passeriformes > Hirundinidae > Delichon > Delichon urbicum

Delichon urbicum (Northern House Martin; Common House Martin)

Synonyms: Delichon urbica; Delichon urbica urbica; Hirundo urbica (homotypic)

Wikipedia Abstract

The common house martin (Delichon urbicum), sometimes called the northern house martin or, particularly in Europe, just house martin, is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family which breeds in Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia; and winters in sub-Saharan Africa and tropical Asia. It feeds on insects which are caught in flight, and it migrates to climates where flying insects are plentiful. It has a blue head and upperparts, white rump and pure white underparts, and is found in both open country and near human habitation. It is similar in appearance to the two other martin species of the genus Delichon, which are both endemic to eastern and southern Asia. It has two accepted subspecies.
View Wikipedia Record: Delichon urbicum

Infraspecies

Delichon urbicum lagopodum (Eastern House Martin)
Delichon urbicum meridionale
Delichon urbicum urbicum

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
4
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
25
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 9.52444
EDGE Score: 2.3537
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  19.5 grams
Birth Weight [1]  1.68 grams
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Invertebrates)
Diet - Invertibrates [2]  100 %
Forages - Aerial [2]  33 %
Forages - Canopy [2]  33 %
Forages - Mid-High [2]  33 %
Clutch Size [6]  5
Clutches / Year [5]  2
Fledging [3]  22 days
Incubation [5]  15 days
Mating Display [7]  Ground and non-acrobatic aerial display
Mating System [7]  Monogamy
Maximum Longevity [4]  15 years
Migration [8]  Intercontinental
Speed [9]  21.698 MPH (9.7 m/s)
Wing Span [9]  11 inches (.29 m)
Female Maturity [4]  1 year
Male Maturity [4]  1 year

Ecoregions

Protected Areas

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Ecosystems

Biodiversity Hotspots

Prey / Diet

Mesembrina meridiana (Mid-day Fly)[10]

Prey / Diet Overlap

Predators

Circus cyaneus (Northern Harrier)[10]
Falco columbarius (Merlin)[10]
Falco subbuteo (Northern Hobby)[10]

Consumers

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Storchová, Lenka; Hořák, David (2018), Data from: Life-history characteristics of European birds, Dryad, Dataset, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n6k3n
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 4de Magalhaes, J. P., and Costa, J. (2009) A database of vertebrate longevity records and their relation to other life-history traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22(8):1770-1774
♦ 5British Trust for Ornithology
♦ 6Jetz W, Sekercioglu CH, Böhning-Gaese K (2008) The Worldwide Variation in Avian Clutch Size across Species and Space PLoS Biol 6(12): e303. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060303
♦ 7Terje Lislevand, Jordi Figuerola, and Tamás Székely. 2007. Avian body sizes in relation to fecundity, mating system, display behavior, and resource sharing. Ecology 88:1605
♦ 8Riede, Klaus (2004) Global Register of Migratory Species - from Global to Regional Scales. Final Report of the R&D-Projekt 808 05 081. 330 pages + CD-ROM
♦ 9Alerstam T, Rosén M, Bäckman J, Ericson PGP, Hellgren O (2007) Flight Speeds among Bird Species: Allometric and Phylogenetic Effects. PLoS Biol 5(8): e197. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0050197
♦ 10Ecology of Commanster
♦ 11Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
♦ 12International Flea Database
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0