Description:

A small martin with distinct glossy dark blue and white colors. Adult from Common House Martin by uniform pale dusky grey-brown wash to underparts, shallower fork to shorter tail and darker underwing with dark grey coverts concolorous with underside of flight feathers.

Distribution:

Widespread and rare summer visitor to all the areas of Gilgit-Baltistan. Generally found in valleys and gorges in mountainous or hilly areas, with some vegetation, also human habitations. Mostly above 1500m and to over 3000m.

Behavior:

Feeds in flocks, high up, with slow flap-and-glide flight. Presence in diet of springtails and caterpillars suggests occasional feeding while perched. Diet consists of small dipteran flies, bugs including homopterans, beetles, winged ants, small Lepidoptera, caddisflies, lacewings, stoneflies and springtails.

Photo Gallery:

Range & Occurrence:

Resident Species

Summer Breeder

Winter Visitor

Passage Migrant

Distribution Map of Asian House-Martin in Gilgit-Baltistan (Status: )

Seasonal Occurrence of Asian House-Martin

Resources:

Birds of Pakistan: Helm Field Guides (R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
The Birds of Pakistan (T. J. Roberts)
Birds of the Indian Subcontinent (C. Inskipp, R. Grimmett & T. Inskipp)
Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide (P. Rasmussen & J. Anderton)
Birds of India: Collins Field Guide (N. Arlott)
Handbook of the Birds of India and Pakistan (S. Ali & S. D. Ripley)
Handbook of the Birds of the World (https://www.hbw.com)
The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, 6th Edition
iNaturalist BoGB (inaturalist.org/projects/birds-of-gilgit-baltistan)
Birds of Gilgit-Baltistan (http://fb.me/birdsgb)

*Gallery images on this page are shared from flickr.com, and are copyrighted to their respective creators or owners.