Greater Striped Swallow
Cecropis cucullata
Large, beautiful swallow with a long, forked tail. Note the rufous cap, cinnamon rump, and pale buffy underparts with fine streaking. Usually found in grassland and wetland, though can be seen in other habitats, especially when migrating. Often in flocks, sometimes mixed with other swallow species. Similar to Lesser Striped Swallow, but larger, with buffy underparts with finer streaks, and with less orange on the face.
Identification
The greater striped swallow is 18–20 cm (7.1–7.9 in) long. It has dark blue upperparts with a pale orange rump and a chestnut crown, nape and sides of the head. The underparts and underwing coverts are creamy white with dark streaking, and the upper wings and underwing flight feathers are blackish-brown. The blackish tail has very long outer feathers; these are slightly longer in the male than the female. Juveniles are duller and browner, with less contrast and shorter outer tail feathers. The flight is slow and buoyant, and the call is a twittering chissick.<p>This species can be distinguished from the smaller lesser striped swallow, Cecropis abyssinica, in that the latter species has heavier and darker underparts striping, a deeper red rump, and rufous rather than buffy ear coverts. The lesser striped swallow also prefers less open habitats.
Taxonomy
The greater striped swallow was described by the French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1780 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux from a specimen collected in the Cape of Good Hope district of South Africa. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Hirundo cucullata in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The greater striped swallow is now one of nine species that are placed in the genus Cecropis that was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826. The species is monotypic and no subspecies are recognised. The name of the genus is from the Ancient Greek Kekropis "Athenian woman". The specific epithet cucullata is from the Late Latin cucullatus meaning "hooded".
- Scientific name
- Cecropis cucullata
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Hirundinidae
- Genus
- Cecropis
Range and habitat
It breeds in southern Africa, mainly in South Africa, Namibia and southern Zimbabwe. It is migratory wintering further north in Angola, Tanzania and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Breeding range
- AF : Angola and Namibia to Zimbabwe and s to s South Africa
- Non-breeding range
- to c DR Congo and Tanzania
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
The greater striped swallow is common, unafraid of humans, and has benefited from the availability of nest sites around habitation. It feeds mainly on flying insects, but has been known to eat small fruits. It is a bird of dry open country, such as grassland, and has a preference for hills and mountains. It avoids more wooded areas, but is often found around human habitation.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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