Description
The Dusky Crag Martin is 13 cm (5.1 in) long with a broad body, wings and tail. It has sooty-brown upperparts and slightly paler underparts, with a streaked pale dull rufous chin, throat and foreneck. The tail is short and square, with small white patches near the tips of all but the central and outermost pairs of feathers. The underwing coverts are dark brown, the eyes are brown, the small bill is mainly black, and the legs are brownish-pink. The sexes are alike, but juveniles have rufous grey tips to the plumage of the upperparts and wings. This species can be distinguished from the Eurasian Crag Martin and Rock Martin by its darker underparts, and its white tail spots are significantly smaller than those of the Eurasian Crag Martin. The under-tail coverts are of the same shade as the underside of the abdomen but these are darker in the Eurasian Crag Martin.
This small martin's flight is typically slow and leisurely, but it is capable of considerable speed when required. The calls are similar to those of the Eurasian Crag Martin and include a soft chi, chi contact call and a twittering song.
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