Ptyonoprogne fuligula
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~60% in a week ~90%
The large rock martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula), also known as the southern crag-martin, is a small passerine bird in the swallow family that is resident in southern Africa. It was formerly considered to be conspecific with the red-throated rock martin. It breeds mainly in the mountains, but also at lower altitudes, especially in rocky areas and around towns, and, unlike most swallows, it is often found far from water. It is 12–15 cm (4.7–5.9 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. The former northern subspecies are smaller, paler, and whiter-throated than southern African forms, and are now usually split as a separate species, the pale crag martin. The large rock martin hunts along cliff faces for flying insects using a slow flight with much gliding. Its call is a soft twitter.
The large rock 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, dam walls, culverts and bridges. It is often reused for subsequent broods or in later years. The large rock martin is a solitary breeder, and is not gregarious, 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, but the young birds will return to the nest to roost for a few days after the first flight.
The large rock martin is often predated on by several fast and agile species of falcon, such as the hobby, and it sometimes carries parasites. Because it is common within its large range with an apparently stable population, it is assessed as a least-concern species on the IUCN Red List. Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Abuja | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | |
| 3 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 4 | Yaoundé | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | |
| 5 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 7 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Lubango | 🇦🇴 Angola | |
| 9 | Addis Ababa | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | |
| 10 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
Possible
About 30% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Martin sighting in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, based on 110 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 30th most-seen of the 122 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 60%, and over a week to about 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Rock Martin in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park on a given day, against about 20% in March, June, August and December–January, the lowest months. Those are among Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 40 mm in January. May has too few records to rate.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Rock 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 37
Of the 37 parks where we can rate Rock Martin sightings, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park ranks 7th at about 30%. The best odds are in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 50%), Namib-Naukluft National Park (Namibia, about 50%) and Waterberg Plateau Park (Namibia, about 50%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Rock Martin is recorded against all the birds logged in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (110 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
