House Swallow

Young Swallows - not yet fully grown

House Swallows, also known as Pacific Swallows, are very common near the rural parts of Shimoga. We can see it very often in rural parts of Shimoga - mostly flying around at very high speeds. It is not very common to see these birds sit down for long, as they are very enthusiastic fliers. Having said that, look out for electric wires - sometimes these form long lines on electric lines.

If we observe the birds carefully while they are sitting, we can see it is an attractive bird - chestnut-coloured forehead with a paler underparts and shiny wings. We can also observe that the wings are longer in proportion to many other birds, suited for high-speed flying.

Salim Ali notes that these are confined to western ghats and nearby areas, especially south of Karnataka, Kerala and West Tamil Nadu. I have observed a swallow build a nest in a rock in the middle of Tunga river, very close to the pathway crossing the river. That was a very unique opportunity to observe the young birds, who were not yet aware of humans as threats and were not flying away even if I approached them closely. Their mother coming back frequently to feed them was another memorable experience.

These birds eat insects which they catch while flying. Scientific name for this bird is Hirundo Tahitica Gmelin.

Wire-tailed Swallow

Wire-tailed swallow is easily the most attractive swallow I have seen so far. As the name suggests, this swallow has two long "wires" hanging behind their already longish wings. With its safrron forehead and white underparts, with a black covering around the eyes, this bird is really a treat for your eyes.

We can see this bird near water sources, like Tunga channels - where I caught the picture here. Salim Ali notes that it is hard to catch these birds far from water sources. Its chief food sources are flies and other midgets.

At the perticular time when I took this snap, the female was also sitting besides the male. The tail wire of the female is considerably shorter, in fact barely distinguishable from a distance.

Scientific name for this bird is Hirundo smithii.

Red-rumped Swallow

Perched on an electric wire - notice the tails

Admittedly, Red-rumped Swallow is not that easy to spot. Partly because it is very hard to identify anything special about this bird from a distance - and you usually see them perched on electric wires when you drive to some interior roads around Shimoga. So, yes, this is not a strict 'daily' bird, but is fairly common, especially during late monsoon. If you get off your bike or car and take a closer look, you can see the distictive shape of the tail, which looks similar to but is a lot shorter than the tail of Swuft - initially I mistook these for Swufts.

These are adapted for aerial feeding, but are quite comfortable walking around muddy areas, collecting mud for their nests.

Scientific name for this bird is Cecropis daurica.