Black saw-wing

Appearance

The black rough-winged swallow is a small swallow at 13–15 cm length with a forked tail. Its plumage is blue-glossed black. Sexes are similar, but the female has shorter outer tail feathers, and less obvious wing serrations. Juveniles are brown with little gloss, and have short tails.

There are many subspecies of this swallow, which some authorities may split into different species. In particular, four northeastern races, including nominate "P. p. pristoptera", have conspicuous white underwing coverts, and may be split as the eastern rough-winged swallow or eastern saw-wing, "P. orientalis". This leaves "P. p. holomelaena" as the black rough-winged swallow, "P. holomelaena". Other subspecies are also sometimes elevated to species status, but Turner and Rose take the view that all the races of the black rough-winged swallow are, at best, incipient species.

Naming

*Shari saw-wing "Psalidoprocne chalybdea"
⤷ Petit's saw-wing "Psalidoprocne petiti"
⤷ Mangbettu saw-wing "Psalidoprocne mangbettorum"
⤷ Ethiopian saw-wing "Psalidoprocne oleaginea"
⤷ Blue saw-wing "Psalidoprocne pristoptera"
⤷ Brown saw-wing "Psalidoprocne antinorii"
⤷ Blanford's saw-wing "Psalidoprocne blanfordi"
⤷ Eastern saw-wing "Psalidoprocne orientalis"
⤷ *Includes the race "reichenowi"
⤷ Black saw-wing "Psalidoprocne holomelas"
⤷ *Includes races "massaica" and "ruwenzori"

Distribution

The black rough-winged swallow breeds in open wooded habitats, and has a preference for wetter areas, although some races occur in mountain grassland habitat. It breeds across Africa from eastern Nigeria and Ethiopia south to Angola, northern Zimbabwe and northern Mozambique. The subspecies "P. p. holomelaena" breeds down south-eastern Africa from southern Mozambique to the Cape in South Africa.

This species is mainly resident, apart from seasonal local or altitudinal movements, but "P. p. holomelaena" is migratory, spending the southern winter north of the breeding range. The nominate race "P. p. pristoptera" of the mountains of northern Ethiopia moves south after breeding.

Behavior

Black rough-winged swallows are usually seen in pairs or small groups hunting for flying insects in woodland clearings and edges, above forest, or over water. Their flight is weak and fluttering. It is a quiet species, but it gives a soft "chrrp" alarm call. There is also a contact call described for as "chirr chirr cheeeu" for "P. p. holomelaena" and "tseeu tseu tsss-ip" for "orientalis".

Reproduction

The nest is constructed from grass, moss or similar materials, and built in a 30–60 cm long burrow in a vertical sand or clay bank. This is usually an old burrow of another species like a kingfisher, but may be excavated by the breeding pair. The clutch is two, sometimes three, white eggs. Only one parent, probably the female, incubates for 14–19 days to hatching, with a further 24–27 days until the young fledge.