What to Know About the Rock Martin in Uganda?

The Rock Martin in Uganda is one of the African birds of Uganda seen during Birding Watching Tours. It is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds mostly in the mountains but also at lower altitudes, particularly in rocky areas and around towns, and, distinct from other swallows, it is frequently found very distant from water.

How Does the Rock Martin in Uganda Look Like?

The rock martin has a length from 12–15 cm with earth-brown upper plumage and a short square tail containing small white covers near the tips of all but the central and outermost pairs of feathers.

It has a cinnamon chin, throat, upper breast and underwing feathers. The other underparts are similar brown to the upperparts.

It has brown eyes, small black bill, and brownish-pink legs. The male and female are similar in appearance, but young ones have grey edges to the upperparts and flight feathers.

The flight is slow, with rapid wing beats interspersed with flat-winged glides.

How Does the Rock Martin in Uganda Sing and Make Calls?

Rock martin is a silent bird, it song is a lowered twitter, and other calls include a trrt like the call of the common house martin, a nasal vick, and a high pitched twee contact call.

How Does the Rock Martin in Uganda Feed?

The rock martin forages mostly on insects caught in flight, but occasionally feeds on the ground. During breeding, rock martins repeatedly fly back and forth along a rock face trapping insect by their bills and eat near to the nesting grounds.

Sometimes they may quest low over open ground. The prey caught depend on what is locally available, but may include mosquitoes and other flies, Hymenoptera, ants and beetles.

It is a solitary eater, but flocks may gather at grass fires to feed on the flying insects, and outside the breeding season flocks of up to 300 maybe found where food is abundant.

How Does the Rock Martin in Uganda Nest?

Rock martin pairs are solitary nesters, but in suitable sites, small loose colonies may form up to 40 pairs. These rock martins defend their nesting grounds against conspecifics and other species.

Both adults build the nest for several weeks. The nesting materials include hundreds of mud pellets which are lined with soft dry grass or occasionally feathers.

The nest maybe a bowl-shaped similar to that of the barn swallow when placed on a sheltered ledge. The nest may be erected on a rock cliff face, in a gap or on a man-made structure, and is re-used for the second brood and in subsequent years.

How Does the Rock Martin in Uganda Reproduce?

The female lays about 2 to 3 buff-white eggs blotched with grey-brown particularly at the wide end.

Incubation takes about 16-19 days before hatching and chicks are fed about 10 times in one hour up to fledging. The fledging is between 22–24 days or 25–30 days.