msamuel

I share the same puzzle with cjacky.

The following are the photos I took at Xianghai, China on 03May2009:






I originally thought they are Striated Swallow.  But if not having a complete orange band on nape is not instrumental in differentiating a Striated Swallow from Red-rumped Swallow, can any expert out there help to identify which are which, or they are the same kind?

I notice that Striated Swallow is not listed in any category on the "Non-rare Species Report Form".  Would it be possibly that there may be one or two that were overlooked / mis-identified as Red-rumped Swallow?

[ Last edited by msamuel at 1/07/2009 14:52 ]

msamuel

The photo below shows more clearly the color on the nape.


Thank you for the interest in this discussion and the responses.  Any further comments are most welcome.

msamuel

The following photos were taken at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanic Garden, Yunnan, China in Dec 2010.  According to a bird watcher who is working at the site, the birds are Striated Swallows.




Striated Swallows generally have denser and thicker streaks.

According to "A Field Guide to the Birds of China", they are only found in Taiwan and Southern part of Yunnan in China.  The Guide abandons the use of hind collar characteristics as a differentiation from Red-rumped Swallows.  Having said that, I think the photos posted by cywong above are still Red-rumped Swallows.