Gray-rumped Swiftlet
Collocalia marginata
A small, common swiftlet found over a variety of habitats, even human habitation. Gray below with some dark speckling. Black above with blue gloss, a pale band on the rump with some streaks, and a square tail that is dark under the base. Similar to Pygmy Swiftlet, but Gray-rumped is slightly larger and has a less demarcated rump band. Paler below than Germain’s. Does not echolocate, so chooses well-lit nesting sites. Usually silent, but gives a throaty “churr” near nesting site.
Identification
The grey-rumped swiftlet is 9–10 cm (3.5–3.9 in) in length with a square tail. The back and upper surface of the wings are dull dark blue with a moderate green gloss. The rump is paler due to the white margins of feathers forming the uppertail coverts. The throat and upper breast are grey with fine white scalloping merging into larger greyish chevrons over the lower breast and flanks, becoming white over the belly. There is sometimes a tuft of small feathers on the hallux, the rear facing toe. This species lacks the white spots on the inner webs of the tail feathers that are present in some Collocalia species.
Taxonomy
The grey-rumped swiftlet was described by the Italian ornithologist Tommaso Salvadori in 1882 and given the current binomial name Collocalia marginata. The type locality is the island of Cebu in the Philippines. The specific epithet maginata is Latin for "bordered" or "edged". The grey-rumped swiftlet was previously treated as a subspecies of the glossy swiftlet but was promoted to species status based on the results of a detailed analysis of the swiftlets in the genus Collocalia published in 2017.<p>There are two subspecies:
- Scientific name
- Collocalia marginata
- Authority
- Salvadori, 1882
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Apodidae
- Genus
- Collocalia
Photos
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