Wire-tailed Swallow Hirundo smithii
Melka Gebdu, Ethiopia
29 January 2014
This was my penultimate day in Ethiopia and we were heading back to Addis Ababa for our flights home the following day. We stopped for lunch in a secluded spot along a river gorge where we appreciated the minimal amount of cool breeze the river afforded us, for the temperature registered 44 degrees.
The area was filled with birds, not the least of which was this Wire-tailed Swallow, of which we had fine views as it perched under a rocky overhang. We had encountered this species a couple of times previously, but in flight the chestnut head and fine streamers are not easy to detect. This was clearly a grand opportunity to see the bird well.
