Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/African river martin

African river martin

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page. 

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/February 25, 2016 by — Chris Woodrich (talk) 01:36, 7 February 2016 (UTC)



The African river martin (Pseudochelidon eurystomina) is a passerine bird, one of two members of the river martin subfamily of the swallow family, Hirundinidae. When discovered, it was not initially recognised as a swallow. The African river martin is large, mainly black with a blue-green gloss to the head and a greener tint to the back and wings. This martin has red eyes, a broad orange-red bill and a black, square tail. Young birds are similar in appearance to the adults, but have browner plumage. This species has a variety of unmusical calls, and displays both in flight and on the ground, although the purpose of the terrestrial display is unknown. The main breeding areas are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) along the Congo River and its tributary, the Ubangi, in habitats characterised by a mixture of tropical forest types including swampy or seasonally flooded woodland. The African river martin is migratory, wintering in coastal savanna in southern Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. It nests in burrows in river sand banks. It also digs tunnels in which to spend the night in the wintering areas.
 * Most recent similar article(s): 2 January 2016
 * Main editors: Jimfbleak
 * Promoted: 2012
 * Reasons for nomination: "African" might match the topic of February,- also featured topic
 * Support as nominator. Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:36, 1 February 2016 (UTC)