Pacific swallow
The Pacific swallow is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It breeds in tropical southern Asia and the islands of the south Pacific. It is resident apart from some local seasonal movements. This bird is associated with coasts, but is increasingly spreading to forested uplands. It was formerly treated as conspecific with hill swallow, the welcome swallow and the Tahiti swallow.
Taxonomy
The Pacific swallow was formally described and illustrated in 1789 by the Swedish naturalist Anders Sparrman based on a specimen collected on the Indonesian island of Java. He coined the binomial name Hirundo javanica. The Pacific swallow was formerly considered to be conspecific with the Tahiti swallow. The species were split based on the differences in morphology.Six subspecies are recognised:H. j. javanica Sparrman, 1789 – south Myanmar and Andaman Islands to south Vietnam, east to Philippines and south to Moluccas and Greater and Lesser Sunda IslandsH. j. namiyei – Ryukyu Islands and TaiwanH. j. frontalis Quoy & Gaimard, 1832 – north, west New Guinea including Raja Ampat Islands, Aru Islands, Geelvink Bay islands and islands off north coastH. j. albescens Schodde & Mason, IJ, 1999 – south, east New Guinea and satellitesH. j. ambiens Mayr, 1934 – New Britain and satellites H. j. subfusca Gould, 1856 – Admiralty Islands, New Ireland and satellites to Solomon Islands, Ouvea, and Vanuatu to Fiji and Tonga
Additionally, subfossil remains have been found from an undescribed extinct subspecies that was endemic to Henderson Island.