Wire-tailed swallow, known scientifically as Hirundo smithii, has been spotted for the first time in Iran’s northern Golestan Province.
On December 27, two young wire-tailed swallows were found southwest of the Ramsar Convention-inscribed Ajigol Wetland by Hamidreza Rezaei, a faculty member at the Gorgan University of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Mehr News Agency reported.
The Ramsar Convention is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and judicious use of wetlands and their resources.
It recognizes the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value. It is named after the city of Ramsar in northern Iran, where the convention was signed in 1971.
With an increasing population covering large swathes of the planet, this small bird species is not considered threatened based on IUCN criteria.
“The discovery of the wire-tailed swallow increases the number of bird species found in Iran to 545,” the news agency quoted Majid Moqadam Kharrazian, head of the Wildlife and Biodiversity Office at the Department of Environment, as saying.
A passerine bird in the swallow family, the wire-tailed swallow has two subspecies which are found throughout Africa and southern and southeastern Asia.
