Predators and Parasites
The crag martins may be hunted by fast, agile birds of prey such as the African Hobby or Eurasian Hobby that specialise in catching swallows and martins in flight, and by other falcons such as the Peregrine and Taita Falcons. Crows may attack migrating Eurasian Crag Martins, and that species also treats Common Kestrels, Eurasian Sparrowhawks, Eurasian Jays and Common Ravens as predators if they approach the nesting cliffs. The Dusky Crag Martin has been recorded in the diet of the Greater False Vampire Bat, Megaderma lyra.
Crag martins may host parasites, including blood-sucking mites of the genus Dermanyssus such as D. chelidonis, and the nasal mite Ptilonyssus ptyonoprognes. Invertebrate species first found in nests of crag martin species include the tick Argas (A.) africolumbae from a Rock Martin nest and the fly Ornithomya rupes and the flea Ceratophyllus nanshanensis from European Crag Martin nests.
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