Red-chested Swallow

Taxobox
name = Red-chested Swallow
status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1


image_width =
image_caption =
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Aves
ordo = Passeriformes
familia = Hirundinidae
genus = "Hirundo"
species = "H. lucida"
binomial = "Hirundo lucida"
binomial_authority = Hartlaub, 1858

The Red-chested Swallow ("Hirundo lucida") is a small non-migratory passerine bird found in Africa in West Africa, the Congo basin and Ethiopia. It has a long, deeply forked tail and curved, pointed wings.cite book |title=Swallows & martins : an identification guide and handbook |last=Turner |first=Angela K |coauthors=Chris Rose |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1989 |id=ISBN 0-395-51174-7 ] .

It was formerly considered a subspecies of the Barn Swallow, which it closely resembles. Red-chested Swallow differs in being slightly smaller than its migratory relative. It also has a narrower blue breast band, and the adult has shorter tail streamers. In flight, it looks paler underneath than Barn Swallow. Although the adult Red-chested Swallow is reasonably distinctive, juvenile can be confused with the juvenile Barn Swallow, which also has short tail streamers. However, juvenile Red-chested Swallow has a narrower breast band and more white in the tail.cite book |title="A Field Guide to birds of The Gambia and Senegal" |last= Barlow |first=Clive |coauthors= Wacher, Tim; Disley, Tony |publisher=Pica Press|year=1997 |id= ISBN 1-873403-32-1 ]

References