Context

The two Swallow species in India- the barn swallow and the red-rumped swallow are both important resident species of Chennai. However, one (barn swallow) can be noticed easily but the other one (red-rumped swallow) remains in the shadow.

About

Swallows in India:

• In India, there are 15 species of swallows and martins, many of which look similar. 
• Red-rumped Swallow, Barn Swallow, Streak-throated Swallowand Wire-tailed Swallow are perhaps the most common of these and are distributed in most of the country.
• Among these, Red-rumped, Wire-tailed and Streak-throated Swallow are largely resident but Barn Swallow is a winter visitor to most of the country and breeds only in the Himalayas within the region.
  
  

Red-rumped Swallow

• Brightly-colored swallow with a deeply forked tail, pale orangish rump, black squared-off undertail coverts, and an incomplete orange collar.
• Varies significantly across range: European and African birds have clean whitish or orangish underparts, while Asian birds are extensively streaked below; compare carefully with other “Cecropis” species where range overlaps occur.
  

Barn swallow

• The barn swallow(Hirundo rustica) is the most widespread species of swallow in the world.
• In fact, it appears to have the largest natural distribution of any of the world's passerine, ranging over 251 million square kilometres globally.
• It is a distinctive passerine bird with blue upperparts and a long, deeply forked tail.
• It is found in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
• In Anglophone Europe it is just called the swallow; in northern Europe it is the only common species called a "swallow" rather than a "martin".