Hirundines

[Guinnessman1974]

What parts of Africa do the various Hirundines have to travel from?

I know Sand Martins arrive first, so I guess they have a less distance to travel from than the much later-arriving Swift?

How long would it take to travel form start to finish? Weeks?

[RobSutton]

I've only just started reading it so can't answer your question yet but I'm sure it will be in this:

Bird Migration
NEW NATURALIST 113
by Ian Newton
400 pages
Harper Collins

Just published and available from any well known Internet Bookseller that's named after a South American river for just £18-00 (softback)

[aeshna5]

Most Sand Martins winter in west Africa not south of the Sahel, many of our Swallows in South Africa, but there is a lot less data for House Martins where there is still a lot to find out.

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Guinnessman1974

What parts of Africa do the various Hirundines have to travel from?

I know Sand Martins arrive first, so I guess they have a less distance to travel from than the much later-arriving Swift?

How long would it take to travel form start to finish? Weeks?

I've just been looking up Swift in the Bird Migration Atlas and it seems they winter slightly further north (Congo Basin & Malawi) than do Swallows (southern Africa) so have a shorter distance to migrate over. So the fact that Swifts arrive a lot later than Swallows suggests it's not just how far they have to travel which determines when they arrive.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by Guinnessman1974

What parts of Africa do the various Hirundines have to travel from?

I know Sand Martins arrive first, so I guess they have a less distance to travel from than the much later-arriving Swift?

How long would it take to travel form start to finish? Weeks?

Remember Swifts aren't hirundines! Swallows are more closely related to Crows as they are both passerines!

It's a case of convergent evolution that Swifts have a similar lifestyle.

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Guinnessman1974

What parts of Africa do the various Hirundines have to travel from?

I know Sand Martins arrive first, so I guess they have a less distance to travel from than the much later-arriving Swift?

How long would it take to travel form start to finish? Weeks?

I've just got to the part of the book that deals with the speed of migration and for swallows it suggests an average speed of 150km/day so taking the distance from here (North Yorkshire) to Cape Town as being roughly 10000km that would take about 67 days. I saw my first swallow up here on 6th April this year so assuming it was wintering near Cape Town and flew in a straight line at 150km/day it would have needed to leave around about the end of January. Apparently the maximum speed (worked out by ringing and recovery dates) for a swallow is about 340km/day, so at full speed they could do it in about a month.