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Pale Crag Martins are small members of the swallow family. Their entire front is light-grey, while the plumage on the back is slate-grey. The upper side of the flight feathers and tail feathers is dark-grey. Pale Crag Martins have very thin light-grey supercilia and sometimes a light-grey frons. The irises are dark-brown. The small, thin bill is grey. The short legs and feet, which are grey, are invisible in flight.

Pale Crag Martins have now been given species status and are no longer considered to be a race of the Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula), whose range is limited to southern Africa.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Pale Crag Martin is available HERE .

There are 7 extant races of Pale Crag Martins (for details see the relevant literature, or Wikipedia ). Their overall range extends from the entire breadth of North Africa (around and through the Sahara desert), via Arabia, into southern/central Asia, up to Pakistan.

In Arabia (at least) two races of Pale Crag Martins are present. In the south-western parts of the peninsula, race "arabica" is found, while in north-eastern Arabia there is race "perpallida".

We found Pale Crag Martins, race "perpallida", in northern Oman in both urban areas and in mountainous terrain.

Race "perpallida"