Description
The Rock Martin of the nominate subspecies P. f. fuligula is 12–15 cm (4.7–5.9 in) long with earth-brown upperparts and a short square tail that has small white patches near the tips of all but the central and outermost pairs of feathers. It has a cinnamon chin, throat, upper breast and underwing coverts, with the rest of the underparts being a similar brown to the upperparts. The eyes are brown, the small bill is mainly black, and the legs are brownish-pink. The sexes are similar in appearance, but juveniles have pale edges to the upperparts and flight feathers. The other subspecies differ from the nominate form as detailed above.
The Rock Martin's flight is slow, with rapid wing beats interspersed with flat-winged glides, and it is more acrobatic than the larger Eurasian Crag Martin. It is a quiet bird; the song is a muffled twitter, and other calls include a trrt resembling the call of the Common House Martin, a nasal vick, and a high pitched twee contact call.
The Rock Martin is much drabber than most African swallows, and confusion is unlikely except with other crag martins or with sand martins of the genus Riparia. The Pale Crag Martin is smaller, paler and greyer than its southern relative. Although only slightly larger than the Sand Martin and Brown-throated Sand Martin, the Rock Martin is more robust, has white tail spots, and lacks a breast band. It is paler on the throat, breast and underwings than the all-dark form of the Brown-throated Sand Martin.
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