The Fairy Martin (Petrochelidon ariel) is a small bird, sometimes called the Bottle Swallow, because its nest is made from small pellets of mud or clay and shaped like a bottle. These nest are usually in colonies under bridges, eves of buildings, culverts and cliffs.
Both sexes build the nest and also share incubation and care of the young.
The Fairy Martins have dark wings, a white underbody. The adults have an iridescent blue back, brown wings and tail, a rufous crown and nape (back of the neck), and a whitish rump. Both sexes are similar, with young birds being duller and more brown, a paler forehead and pale fringes to the back and wing feathers.
The adult has an iridescent blue back, brown wings and tail, a rufous crown and nape, and a whitish rump. The underparts are dull white.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Chordata
- Class: Aves
- Order: Passeriformes
- Family: Hirundinidae
- Genus: Petrochelidon
- Species: Petrochelidon ariel
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