Blue-and-white Swallow

Pygochelidon cyanoleuca

Subspecies N.c.cyanoleuca.
Photo by Robert Scanlon
La Suiza Nature Reserve, near Pereira, Colombia, May 2004

Notiochelidon cyanoleuca

Identification

11-12 cm

• Dark blue upperparts
• White underparts
• Blackish underwings
• Glossy black crissum
  

Juvenile

• Brown above
• Buff below
• Tail less markedly forked

Young bird
Photo by Daniesser
Belo Horizonte/MG Brazil, November 2007

Distribution

Central and South America:
Central America: Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and rare in south eastMexico, only breeding in Panama and Costa Rica
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina

Southern populations are long distance migrants that breed in Argentina and migrate to northern South America and Central America in southern winter.

Taxonomy

The species is also placed in genus Notiochelidon by some authorities^[2].

Subspecies^[1]

Three subspecies are recognized:

• N. c. cyanoleuca:

• Highlands of Costa Rica to Venezuela, Brazil and northern Argentina

• N. c. peruviana:

• Coastal Peru (La Libertad to Arequipa)

• N. c. patagonica:

• Central Chile and Argentina to Tierra del Fuego

Habitat

Common and widespread, especially in agricultural and urban areas upto 4000m. At least in Chile always connected with water.

Behaviour

Breeding

Both sexes build a shallow nest from straw. The clutch consists of 6 white eggs; incubation (15 days) and feeding the young is carried out by both parents until they fledge at about 26 days. There may be two broods.

Diet

The diet includes insects caught aerially.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Ridgely & Gwynne 1989. Birds of Panama. Princeton Paperbacks. ISBN 0691025126
4. Richard ffrench. 1991. A guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Comstock/Cornell Paperbacks. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2
5. Howell & Webb, 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198540124
6. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Blue-and-white Swallow. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Blue-and-white_Swallow

External Links

Search for photos of Blue-and-white Swallow in the gallery