Jump to content

Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates/Pale Crag Martin/archive1

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blurb

[edit]

The pale crag martin (Ptyonoprogne obsoleta) is a bird in the swallow family that is resident in northern Africa and in southwestern Asia. It breeds in mountains, other rocky areas and towns. It is 12–13 cm (4.5–5 in) long, with mainly brown plumage, paler below, and with white "windows" on the tail that show as it hunts along cliffs for flying insects. It builds a deep bowl or quarter-sphere nest on a flat surface, vertical rock face or wall. The nest is made with mud and lined with grass or feathers. Normally a solitary breeder, small groups may sometimes nest close together. The two or three eggs of a typical clutch are white with brown and grey blotches, and are incubated by both adults for 16–19 days prior to hatching. Both parents then feed the chicks. Fledging takes another 22–24 days. This species faces no major threats, and because of its large range and apparently increasing population, it is assessed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. (This article is part of a featured topic: Crag martins .)

Addressed comments from Crisco 1492

[edit]
  • "It breeds mainly in the mountains, but also at lower altitudes, especially in rocky areas and around towns, and, unlike most swallows, it is often found far from water." - THat's a lot of commas. This should be reworded.
  • Two paragraphs in a row starting "this martin"
  • from near Cairo, Egypt. - Sounds odd to me, perhaps "found near" or "collected near".
  • The paragraph starting "The genus Ptyonoprogne is closely related" may be able to be worked into the paragraph before, not sure if that's desirable though
  • it is now usually split as a separate species. - Considered a separate species?
  • The Pale Crag Martin of the nominate subspecies P. o. obsoleta - You describe this one, but the other six are essentially left high and dry
  • The end of the first para of "Description" says The other subspecies differ from the nominate form as detailed in the table above I'm reluctant to itemise the fairly minor differences in what is bound to be stodgy and repetitive text as well as the table Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:59, 28 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • habitat - Wouldn't this be habitats?
  • I guess I'll do a few more
  • Any reason for not sticking to exclusively templated references? The Peregrine Falcon one is still manual
  • Argas (A.) africolumbae - What's with the parenthetical A.?
  • The Pale Crag Martin has a very large range of 5.9 million km - Shouldn't this be in the distribution section?
  • We invariably put the area in "Status" because a restricted or shrinking range is a factor that leads to various vulnerability assessments, and I don't want to repeat it under distribution, which is more about where it occurs than the extent of the range Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:06, 28 November 2012 (UTC)[reply]
  • It colonised southern Israel, - Would "It has colonised" work better?


  • These martins (in behaviour) - Any reason for the change from the singular "this martin" to "these"?
  • The clutch is usually two or three buff-white eggs blotched with sepia or grey-brown particularly, at the wide end. - I'm having trouble parsing this sentence. Perhaps the comma is misplaced? "The clutch is usually two or three buff-white eggs are blotched with sepia or grey-brown, particularly at the wide end."
  • The average egg size for Asian birds - Anything for African birds?
  • The data for African birds invariably refers to the nominate subspecies of what is now the Rock Martin. Any differences between North African and Arabian eggs are likely to be minimal. I'll keep looking, but I'm not optimistic Jimfbleak - talk to me? 08:19, 29 November 2012 (UTC) [reply]
  • "When breeding, birds often fly back and forth along a rock face catching insects in their bills and feed close to the nesting territory" - Perhaps "Breeding birds often feed close to their nesting territory, flying back and forth along a rock face catching insects in their bills" would read better?
  • A study of nine bird species, including four hirundines, showed that the more young there are in a nest, the more frequent are the parents' feeding visits, but the visits do not increase in proportion to the number of young. - Maybe it's because it's five a.m. here, but I'm not getting this sentence.
  • subspecies of the Rock Martin (P. f. fusciventris) - Wouldn't this be "subspecies of the Rock Martin (P. o. fusciventris)" per your above comment? Or is it P. f. and thus not entirely relevant to the article? I don't see how this is directly related to the Pale Crag Martin
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Featured_article_candidates/Pale_Crag_Martin/archive1&oldid=1110235723"