Redbreasted swallows

The red-breasted swallow is usually migratory. In southern Africa it is a summer migrant that breeds here and returns seasonally to tropical Africa to avoid some of the cold.

It lives in dry, open country of the Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and the provinces north of the Vaal River. Its diet is flying insects and other arthropods. In wooded areas the similar mosque swallow tends to replace it.

Its mud nest has a tubular entrance built in a cavity such as an antbear burrow, hollow termite mound, a cave, a tree hole or man-made facilities such as deserted buildings or under bridges.

Three white, slightly glossy eggs forms the typical clutch. Incubation takes about 16 days and nestling 24 days (Maclean, 1993; Wikipedia).