IDENTIFICATION

10-11 cm. A small martin, similar to Sand Martin in plumage but has pale grey-brown throat and upper breast and a whitish belly with no dark breast band.

Juveniles have pale-fringed upperparts. The wings are relatively broad-based and the tail short with only a shallow fork.

VOCALISATIONS

A rapid, staccato, fairly dry trill descending in pitch at the end. Not as dry or buzzing as the calls of Sand Martin.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

Both records have occurred over open country in the northwest New Territories.

OCCURRENCE

1994: one at Long Valley on 14 December (Leader 1995).

2016: one at Mai Po NR on 6 October.

The second of these was one of two Taiwan-breeding hirundines found in HK in the period 3-6 October 2016, a few days after Super Typhoon Meiji made landfall on the Fujian coast after tracking through Taiwan.

RANGE & SYSTEMATICS

Occurs from southern Uzbekistan and eastern Afghanistan through northern areas of the Indian subcontinent, Myanmar and extreme southwest China to Indochina, with disjunct populations in Taiwan and Luzon, Philippines (del Hoyo et al. 2020). In China it occurs in southern Yunnan and southwestern Guangxi, and in Taiwan (Liu and Chen 2020). The nominate form occurs in most of the range, including HK, apart from Luzon, Philippines where R. c. tantilla is present.

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend decreasing.