Streak-throated Swallow

The streak-throated, or Indian cliff, swallow is a sparrow-sized bird about 11 cm long, native to South Asia, where it breeds, is resident or is a winter visitor in Afghanistan, India, Nepal and Pakistan, from the plains of Pakistan east along the base of the Himalaya to Sikkim. The rump is pale brown and the tail square-ended, and the brown streaks on the throat and chest are distinctive. On cold mornings, large flocks are seen packed on electric wires to catch the early sun (Wikipedia, general species account).

The diet is midges and other tiny winged insects caught in the air. The nesting season is almost year-round, December to April and July to October, and the birds build large colonial nests of mud, many pot-like nests fused together, each entered by a short tube. In one Rajasthan college a flock built a colony about 9 m up under a roof, completed within four months of starting to rebuild. SoIB 2023 rates it a Low conservation priority, a local migrant of open habitat with a Large range of about 835,000 km² and inconclusive trends (Wikipedia, general species account; SoIB 2023).