Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) [XC861883]
by Stein \u00d8. Nilsen from Sagelvvatn North, Balsfjord kommune, Troms Og Finnmark, Norway (alarm call, call, flight call, song)
Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) [XC575759]
by Beatrix Saadi-Varchmin from Koigi, Saaremaa Parish, Saare maakond, Estonia (alarm call, call, flight call, various calls)
Nest
A cup of feathers and grass, in an excavated hole in a river bank or sand-cliff.
Subspecies
Forms a superspecies with African Plain Martin (Riparia paludicola), Congo Sand Martin (Riparia congica) and Pale Sand Martin (Riparia diluta). Until recently considered conspecific with Pale Sand Martin (Riparia diluta), but the two differ in plumage and voice, and occur in separate breeding colonies in wide area of sympatry (full extent of which not yet clear). Described subspecies kolymensis (eastern Siberia) merged with nominate and taczanowskii (L Baikal area and central Mongolia east to Ussuriland) with ijimae, but both possibly distinguishable.
Proposed taxon dolgushini (from south-eastern Kazakhstan) is synonym of innominata. North American populations sometimes considered to represent a separate, supposedly smaller, subspecies maximiliani, but differences from Eurasian birds negligible.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
riparia (Linnaeus, 1758) - North America from western and central Alaska and Canada (northen yukon Yukon, north-western and south-central Mackenzie and northern Saskatchewan east to southern Labrador and south-western Newfoundland) south in USA to central California, western Nevada, Utah, northern and central New Mexico, north-eastern Oklahoma, northern Alabama, central West Virginia, eastern Virginia, and casually north-western North Carolina and south-central South Carolina, also south-central Texas and north-eastern Mexico (northern Nuevo Léon, northern Tamaulipas); Eurasia from Ireland, Britain and northern Scandinavia east through Siberia (east to about R Kolyma and Kamchatka), south to northern Mediterranean, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, south-western Iran and central Asia; has bred locally in north-western Africa. Winters South America and Africa.
innominata Zarudny, 1916 - South-eastern Kazakhstan. May winter in Africa or in south-western or southern Asia.
ijimae (Lönnberg, 1908) - L Baikal area and central Mongolia east to Sakhalin, northern Japan (Hokkaido) and Kuril Is. Reported as breeding also in north-eastern India (Assam), but review required. Winters south-east Asia, including Philippines.
shelleyi (Sharpe, 1885) - Egypt (Nile Valley). Winters south to Sudan and Eritrea.
eilata Shirihai & Colston, 1992 - Breeding range not known. Recorded on passage in Israel.
taczanowskii Stegmann, 1925 - Southern Siberia and central Mongolia to eastern Siberia.
The Reader's Digest Book of British Birds 1980, 3rd Edition, Drive Publications Ltd ISBN 0 340 25308 8
Birds in Colour Campbell, B., 1960, Penguin Books Ltd
The Pocket Guide to Nest and Eggs Fitter, R.S.R., 1954, Collins
RSPB Handbook of British Birds Holden, P., Cleeves, T., 2002, A & C Black ISBN 0 7136 5713 8
Birds of Britain and Europe Sterry, P., et al., 2001, AA Publishing ISBN 0 7495 3068 5
The Popular Handbook of British Birds Hollom, P.A.D., 1973, H.F. & G. Witherby Ltd ISBN 0 85493 002 7
BirdLife International Species Factsheet