Ptyonoprogne obsoleta
Silhouette: Matt Wilkins · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~40%
The pale crag martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) is a small passerine bird in the swallow family that is resident in Northern Africa and in Southwestern Asia, east to Pakistan. It breeds mainly in the mountains, but also at lower altitudes, especially in rocky areas and around towns. Unlike most swallows, it is often found far from water. It is 12–13 cm (4+1⁄2–5 in) long, with mainly brown plumage, paler-toned on the upper breast and underwing coverts, and with white "windows" on the spread tail in flight. The sexes are similar in appearance, but juveniles have pale fringes to the upperparts and flight feathers. It was formerly considered to be the northern subspecies of the rock martin of southern Africa, although it is smaller, paler, and whiter-throated than that species. The pale crag martin hunts along cliff faces for flying insects using a slow flight with much gliding. Its call is a soft twitter.
This martin builds a deep bowl nest on a sheltered horizontal surface, or a neat quarter-sphere against a vertical rock face or wall. The nest is constructed with mud pellets and lined with grass or feathers, and may be built on natural sites under cliff overhangs or on man-made structures such as buildings and bridges. It is often reused for subsequent broods or in later years. This species is often a solitary breeder, but small groups may breed close together in suitable locations. The two or three eggs of a typical clutch are white with brown and grey blotches, and are incubated by both adults for 16–19 days prior to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days, although the young birds will return to the nest to roost for a few days after their first flight.
The pale crag martin is caught in flight by several fast, agile falcon species, such as hobbies, and it sometimes carries parasites, but it faces no major threats. Because of its range of nearly 20 million square kilometres (7,700,000 sq mi) and a large and apparently increasing population, it is not seen as vulnerable and is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
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More parks will be added in future updates.
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Crag-Martin sighting in Dubai on a given day, based on 181 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 31st most-seen of the 170 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 40%, if each day is a fresh chance.
April–October and December–February
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pale Crag-Martin in Dubai on a given day, against under 5% in March and November, the lowest months.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pale Crag-Martin sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
7th of 9
Of the 9 cities where we can rate Pale Crag-Martin sightings, Dubai ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia, about 40%), Ramallah (Palestine, about 30%) and Luxor (Egypt, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pale Crag-Martin is recorded against all the birds logged in Dubai (181 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
