Eastern Red-rumped Swallow set to be added to British list
Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, which has occurred twice in Britain, is set to become a new addition to the British list, following taxonomic changes confirmed by the International Ornithological Committee (IOC).
In the upcoming updates to version 14.2 of the IOC's World Bird List, which are rumoured to included some significant changes from a British-listing perspective, the Red-rumped Swallow complex has been split.
The nominate form, Cecropis daurica daurica, which is found from southern Siberia to the Amur River, northern Mongolia, western China and Transbaikalia, will become Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, with European Red-rumped (C d rufula) and African Red-rumped Swallows (C d melanocrissus) to be split and treated as full species in their own right.
What is likely to become Britain's first Eastern Red-rumped Swallow on Skye, Highland in June 2011 (Ian Fulton).
New addition to the British list
The IOC cited differences in morphology and mtDNA divergence, from studies as far back as 2005, as the reasons for splitting European Red-rumped Swallow. African Red-rumped Swallow will also include the forms domicella, emini and kumboensis.
Eastern Red-rumped Swallow has been recorded twice before in Britain, in Scotland on both occasions. The first was an adult that was originally found on Sanday, Orkney, on 9 June 2011, before relocating to Skye, Highland, where it was seen on 17 and 29 June.
The other record was a bird found at sea east of Caithness on 26 May 2018. These two will likely be rubber-stamped by the British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee (BOURC) as the first two British records of Eastern Red-rumped Swallow.
Future splits
European Red-rumped Swallow is the form most familiar to British birders – it's a scarce visitor to Britain, typically in spring, and is increasing, averaging between 30 and 40 records each year. It is found throughout southern Europe, from the Iberian Peninsula to Turkey, as well as in North Africa and the Middle East eastwards to Iran, Afghanistan and north-western India.
The split of Red Grouse from Willow Ptarmigan was also announced in the IOC update. Full coverage of the taxonomic changes, which are rumoured to include the lumping of Hooded Crow and the repdoll complex, will be covered in a future edition of Birdwatch magazine.
There are only two records of Eastern Red-rumped Swallow in Britain (Ian Fulton).
