Tahiti Swallow

Tahiti Swallow (Hirundo tahitica) is a small island swallow with glossy dark upperparts, a reddish forehead and throat, pale underparts and a shallowly forked tail. Body shape, bill structure, plumage pattern and voice provide the strongest field characters. Age, sex and season may alter its appearance, so identification should combine several features and careful direct field comparisons with similar species in the same habitat (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is native to Tahiti and Moorea in French Polynesia, catching insects above open ground and water and attaching a mud cup nest to cliffs, caves or human structures. Its movements and social behaviour vary through the year, with breeding birds generally more dispersed and non-breeding birds gathering where food is concentrated. Japanese records place it within the country's documented avifauna as a resident, migrant or visitor (Wikipedia, general species account; Wildlife of Japan occurrence records).