San Tin 新田 Red-rumped swallow 金腰燕 nesting behaviour
San Tin 新田
This morning I saw a total of 20 red-rumped swallows around the fishponds close to San Tin village.
As usual, most were flying over the fishponds, associating with little swifts and barn swallows.
However, one group of 3 red-rumps were flying low over a muddy puddle, and one was seen to drop to the ground, pick up some mud and fly towards San Tin.
I wonder whether red-rumped swallows are now breeding at San Tin? I saw them in the area a couple of times this summer, suggesting they may have been breeding nearby.
I saw similar nest-building behaviour last winter (January) at Kam Tin; the pair there were repairing the nest. Interestingly, they then disappeared until May!
It seems the species may be establishing a population in the north-west NT - it would be interesting to get data on how this colonisation occurs. Has anyone seen any nesting behaviour elsewhere?
