Sand Martin

The sand martin, known in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a small martin 12–13cm long with a wingspan of 26.5–29cm and a weight of 11–16g, heavier before migration. It is brown above and white below with a narrow brown breast band, a black bill and brown legs; young birds have rufous edges to the wing feathers. Its brown back and breast band, white throat, small size and quick, jerky flight separate it from similar swallows. The pale martin was formerly sometimes counted as a subspecies (Wikipedia, general species account).

It has a vast summer range covering practically the whole Holarctic, from Europe across Asia to the Pacific and throughout North America, and winters in eastern and southern Africa, southern Asia and South America. It nests in winding holes dug into sheer sandy banks, as Linnaeus already noted. Its species name means of the riverbank. There are three or four weakly defined subspecies. SoIB 2023 lists it as a winter migrant in India with a moderate range, has too little data for a trend and rates it a Low conservation priority (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).