Angolan swallow

Angolan swallow
File:Hirundo angolensis, Munhango, Birding Weto, a.jpg
File:Hirundo angolensis MHNT.jpg
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Hirundinidae
Genus:	Hirundo
Species:	H. angolensis
Binomial name
Hirundo angolensis Barboza du Bocage, 1868

The Angolan swallow (Hirundo angolensis) is a species of swallow that is native to the Afrotropics.

Description

They measure 15 cm and weigh 16 to 19 g. The plumage of the forehead, throat and upper breast is coloured deep rufous-chestnut. The crown and upperparts are a shiny steel-blue. Flight and tail feathers are black, the latter with large white windows.

Behaviour

They frequent a variety of open habitats up to the fringes of forest, whether altered by man or natural. Their diet consists of a variety of flying insects. They may forage alone or in flocks, and emit a weak twittering. Their breeding season and abundance depends much on their region of residence, and a few undertake migrations.

Range

It is found in Angola, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Relationships

It has been considered conspecific with the Red-chested swallow, but is generally taken as a full species in a species complex that includes Barn, Red-chested, Pacific, Welcome, White-throated and Ethiopian swallows.

Subspecies

There are two subspecies, but intermediate forms occur:

• H. a. angolensis – type from Huíla Province, Angola
• H. a. arcticincta Sharpe, 1891 – East Africa

• Hirundo angolensis 1894.jpg

  nominate subsp.
• Hirundo angolensis, arcticincta race 1894.jpg

  subsp. arcticincta
  deeper tail-fork,
  paler belly plumage