It is similar to that of Common House Martin, but more rasping.

The Common House Martin is a noisy species, especially at its breeding colonies.

The Common House Martin has a large range, with an estimated global extent of 10 million square kilometres.

Despite this, the huge geographical range and large numbers of the Common House Martin mean that its global status is secure.

Widespread declines in Common House Martin numbers have been reported from central and northern Europe since 1970.

The Common House Martin tends to breed colonially, and nests may be built in contact with each other.

None of the species are considered threatened, although widespread reductions in Common House Martin numbers have been reported from central and northern Europe.

It also frequently nests on large buildings such as temples and bridges, but not to the same extent as Common House Martin.

Its closest relatives are the two other members of the genus, the Asian House Martin and the Common House Martin.

Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum) originally described as Hirundo urbica by Linnaeus in 1758.

The Common House Martin was originally a cliff and cave nester, and some cliff-nesting colonies still exist, with the nests built below an overhanging rock.

Although the Common House Martin is hunted by the Hobby (Falco subbuteo), its aerial skills enable it to evade most predators.

The Common House Martin has been regularly recorded as hybridising with the Barn Swallow, this being one of the most common passerine interspecific crosses.

Asian House Martin is more similar to Common House Martin, but is darker underneath and has a less deeply forked tail.

The Common House Martin is a widespread migrant breeder across Europe, north Africa and all northern temperate Asia to Kamchatka.

The Asian House Martin appears to occasionally take terrestrial springtails and larvae and the Common House Martin also sometimes feeds on the ground.

It resembles its close relatives, the Asian House Martin and Common House Martin, but unlike those species it has a black throat and black undertail.

The Common House Martin is similar in habits to other aerial insectivores, including other swallows and martins and the unrelated swifts, and catches insects in flight.

More than 40 beetle species have been recorded in Common House Martin nests, but most are either typical of the locality or found in the nests of other birds.

It uses similar open habitats on the wintering grounds, but the Common House Martin is less conspicuous than wintering Barn Swallows, tending to fly higher and be more nomadic.

In the case of at least the Common House Martin, the start of egg laying appears to be linked to the appearance of large numbers of flying aphids, which provide a stable and abundant food supply.

A Polish study of the Common House Martin showed that nests typically contained more than 29 species of ectoparasite, with C. hirundinis and another swallow specialist, Oeciacus hirundinis, the most abundant.

The Common House Martin is a migrant which moves on a broad-front (i.e. European birds are not funnelled through the short sea crossings used by large soaring birds, but cross the Mediterranean and Sahara).

The urban Common House Martin has to compete with House Sparrows, which frequently attempt to take over the nest during construction, with the House Martins rebuilding elsewhere if the sparrows are successful.

It is a quiet bird; the song is a muffled twitter, and other calls include a trrt resembling the call of the Common House Martin, a nasal vick, and a high pitched twee contact call.

Common House Martins (Delichon urbicum) use the loch and its margins as a feeding area until late September.

Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum) originally described as Hirundo urbica by Linnaeus in 1758.

HIRUNDINIDAE Delichon urbicum (Common House-Martin)

Its brown back, white throat, small size and quick jerky flight separate it at once from similar swallows, such as the House Martin (Delichon urbicum), the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) or other species of Riparia.

However, with the colour pattern described by Tafforet, N. rodericanus may well have resembled the black-and-white House Martin (Delichon urbicum) - the most common swallow in European cities and towns - if seen in flight from below.