Asian House Martin

How to identify

Field marks

1. Back deep steel-blue
2. Rump white, contrasting strongly
3. Underparts white with a gray wash
4. Slightly forked tail; body length about 12 cm

Male, female and young

Sexes differ little; male has slightly whiter underparts; juvenile has less metallic gloss, with dark brown upperparts and grayish-white underparts.

Voice

Song is an undulating metallic trill or hissing twitter; call is a dry, metallic “cheep”.

Similar species

Nepal House Martin

Nepal House Martin has a black chin and undertail-coverts, and a much squarer tail.

Western House Martin

Western House Martin has paler underparts and a more deeply forked tail.

Siberian House Martin

Males of Asian House Martin with paler underparts are most easily confused with Siberian House Martin; the latter still has a more distinctly forked tail.

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May–June · Most records: China, Thailand, Japan

Asian House Martin has been recorded at 861 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 21 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Nantou – Meifeng Highland Experimental Farm of NTUTaiwan (China)361 records
2. Khao Dinsor (Khao Dinso) / Chumphon Raptor CenterThailand323 records
3. Ota Ward – Tokyo Port Wild Bird Park (including Tidal Pond)Japan268 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaThailandJapanVietnamBhutanSingaporeMalaysiaMyanmar (Burma)

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Asian house martin (Delichon dasypus) is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has mainly blue-black upperparts, other than its white rump, and has pale grey underparts. Its three subspecies breed in the Himalayas and in central and eastern Asia, and spend the winter lower in the mountains or in Southeast Asia.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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