Crag Martins and Rock Martins Ptyonoprogne rupestris and P. fuligula
21 April 2006, Doha, Qatar

After a morning’s birding in Doha, Qatar I found a small flock of Martins flying around the outside of the hotel I was staying at.

At first glance - while I raced to get the camera settings set for photographing rapidly flying birds in bright sunlight - they were clearly Eurasian Crag Martins Ptyonoprogne rupestris, a widespread species with several close relatives all of which have conspicuous white “spots” in the centre of the tail feathers that are very noticeable when the bird turns or spreads its tail open. This was a species I’d not seen for many years, and I clicked away merrily…

It soon became apparent though that the “flock” was more or less split in to two discrete groups: the first group of birds - the Crag Martins - were flying mainly at about 20m or below, had uniformly dark brown upperparts (except for the white tail panels) with notably “ragged” throats, extensively dark underwing coverts contrasting with a paler underwing, and flew with long glides up and down the exterior of the hotel (often just below eye-level); the second group were considerably paler, with pale throats, had paler underparts but with seemingly extensive underwing coverts again, flew more like Sand Martins Riparia riparia (rapid, flicking, rolling, diving, with far less gliding), and mostly remained around the top of the hotel at over 30m.

The only other species likely to be involved was the closely-related Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula which is supposed to be far commoner in this part of Arabia than Crag Martin and thus probably more likely anyway, but from what I knew - and from photographs on the internet and from illustrations in the guide-book I had with me - Rock Martin is a pale bird with very restricted dark feathering on the underwings.

Most guide books I own though show westerly forms of Rock Martin and I queried whether eastern forms perhaps had slightly darker underwings or whether the extent of the colouring was an effect of photographing pale birds in shadow on a very bright day. Thanks to the birders - particularly Nick Moran and Raffael - who responded I am now happy that I was seeing both Crag and Rock Martins, and that the Rock Martins were typical for the region and the photographs were probably affected by the light conditions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Crag Martins Ptyonoprogne rupestris

 

 

 

 

Rock Martins Ptyonoprogne fuligula

 

 

Rock Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula (left) and Crag Martin P. rupestris (right)

 

Rock or Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne fuligula/rupestris (left) and Crag Martin P. rupestris (right)

All photos copyright Charlie Moores