European red-rumped swallow

The European red-rumped swallow (Cecropis rufula) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It breeds in open hilly country of southern Europe and north Africa east to Iran, Pakistan and northwest India. During winter it migrates to Africa and southwest Asia. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the eastern red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica), united under the common name of “red-rumped swallow”.

European red-rumped swallows are somewhat similar in habits and appearance to the other aerial insectivores, such as the related swallows and the unrelated swifts (order Apodiformes). They have blue upperparts and dusky underparts.

They resemble barn swallows, but are darker below and have pale or reddish rumps, face and neck collar. They lack a breast band, but have black undertails. They are fast fliers and they swoop on insects while airborne. They have broad but pointed wings.

European red-rumped swallows build quarter-sphere nests with a tunnel entrance lined with mud collected in their beaks, and lay 3 to 6 eggs. They normally nest under cliff overhangs in their mountain homes, but will readily adapt to buildings such as mosques and bridges.

They do not normally form large breeding colonies, but are gregarious outside the breeding season. Many hundreds can be seen at a time on the plains of India.

The European red-rumped swallow was formally described in 1835 by the Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck under the binomial name Hirundo rufula. The specific epithet is from Latin rufulus meaning "reddish". The species was formerly treated as a subspecies of the red-rumped swallow (Cecropis daurica) now renamed the eastern red-rumped swallow. The species were split based on differences in morphology and genetic divergence. The European red-rumped swallow is monotypic: no subspecies are recognised.

The European red-rumped swallow breeds across southern Europe and southern Europe and north Africa east to Iran, Pakistan and northwest India. During winter it migrates to Africa and southwest Asia.

These swallows are usually found over grassland where they hawk insects. They may sometimes take advantage of grass fires and grazing cattle that flush insects into the air.