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The 'White-eyed River Martin' (''Pseudochelidon sirintarae'') is a passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. Its scientific name commemorates Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Kingdom of Thailand.
It is one of two members of the river martin subfamily ''Pseudochelidoninae'', the other being the African River Martin ''Pseudochelidon eurystomina'' of the River Congo in Africa. These two species possess a number of distinctive features which mark them out from other swallows and martins, namely their robust legs and feet, and stout bill.
Brooke (1972) proposed that White-eyed River Martin be placed in a separate monotypic genus '''Eurochelidon''', but this was not widely adopted by other authors. However, BirdLife International (2007) now uses ''Eurochelidon''.
The White-eyed River Martin was discovered as recently as 1968 at Bueng Boraphet, Thailand's largest freshwater lake, in Nakhon Sawan Province. It is apparently migratory, wintering at the lake in central Thailand, but its breeding grounds are unknown. It was discovered by Kitti Thonglongya who obtained nine specimens netted by local villagers. It has been seen in the wild in 1972, 1977 and 1980, but is critically endangered and may now be extinct. Along with other swallows, and despite legal protection under the CITES agreement, it was captured by locals for food or for release by Buddhists, and since more than 100 are known to have been taken, the small population may have become non-viable. A possible sighting was made in Cambodia in 2004. [1]

Contents

Description

Behaviour

References

External Links

Description

The adult White-eyed River Martin is large, at 18 cm long. It is mainly black with a silky blue-green gloss, distinctly green on the back. It has white around the eye, a broad yellow bill, a white rump, and two long slender central tail feathers. The sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller, browner and lack the tail racquets.
This species is silent when wintering.

Behaviour

Since its breeding grounds are unknown, nothing is known about the White-eyed River Martin’s breeding biology. It is graceful and buoyant in flight, and feeds on insects
In winter, it roosts in reedbeds.

References

★ Boonsong Lekagul; & Cronin, Edward W. (1974). ''Bird Guide of Thailand''. (2nd edition). Association for the Conservation of Wildlife: Bangkok.

★ A handbook to the swallows and martins of the world, , Angela K, Turner, Christopher Helm, 1989,

External Links

★ Investigating a possible sighting of White-eyed River Martin in Cambodia 2004