Common House Martin Identification

The Common House Martin has a black-blue head with metallic reflections and a white throat.

The upper body is black-blue with metallic reflections.

The underparts are white as well as the rump.

Its legs are white and covered with feathers.

Its tail is slightly forked.

Its song is a barely audible twitter. It is not a songbird!

It emits dry, rolling calls "Trrit trri tssi tssit"; you can hear them around colonies or in flight when hunting.

In good weather, it can be seen hunting in flight, high in the sky...

...often in the company of swifts.

If it is damp and cold, it will hunt close to the ground or over the water's surface.

It lives in colonies. You can often see dozens of nests in the same place.

It produces 1 to 2 broods per year of 2 to 6 white eggs.

It nests against rocks and the exterior facades of houses, often under the eaves or in the corner of a window.

Its nest is hemispherical, made of mud pellets cemented with saliva and lined with grass and feathers.

Both partners participate in the construction of the nest...

They make many trips to collect mud from wet areas, near watercourses.

The entrance to the nest is very small to prevent sparrows from entering.

The Common House Martin eats small flying insects.

During long periods of bad weather, when there are no flying insects, it enters a lethargic state to save energy.

The natural habitat of the Common House Martin consists of cliffs.

Today, it mainly lives in towns and villages near houses.

It is a long-distance migratory species.

It winters in tropical Africa.

The numbers of the Common House Martin are decreasing. Now primarily urban, its nests are sometimes destroyed.

The disappearance of ponds and muddy paths prevents Common House Martins from building their nests to reproduce.