- Tachycineta albiventer
Identification
13½-14 cm (5¼-5½ in)
- Iridescent bluish-green upperparts
- White underparts and rump
- White edgings to the secondary flight feathers
Sexes are similar, but female averages slightly reduced white wing patches.
Juvenile plumage is grey brown above apart from the white rump. Some young and sub-adult White winged Swallows show a white rump but little or no white in the wings.
Distribution
From Colombia and Trinidad through South America east of the Andes to northern Argentina.
Vagrant or rare in Panama.
Taxonomy
Their closest relative seems to be Mangrove Swallow.
Subspecies
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Open country near lakes and rivers, forests, mangroves, second growth, sand bars, sand beaches.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes flying insects such as beetles and flies.
Breeding
The nest is cup shaped, lined with feathers and some seed down in a tree hole, between boulders or in man-made structures. The clutch consists of 3-6 white eggs.
Vocalisation
Call is a repeated, rising, buzzy zweeed or dzree.
Movements
Partly migratory. Birds in extreme southern part of their range move north during the Austral winter.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, C. D. Cadena, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, D. F. Stotz, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 5 July 2019. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. http://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm
- Wikipedia contributors. (2019, June 24). White-winged swallow. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 10:29, July 20, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White-winged_swallow&oldid=903172622
- BirdForum Member observations
- Sedgwick, C. W. (2010). White-winged Swallow (Tachycineta albiventer), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.whwswa1.01
- Turner, A. (2019). White-winged Swallow (Tachycineta albiventer). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/57706 on 20 July 2019).
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) White-winged Swallow. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 14 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-winged_Swallow
