Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow, adult male

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Tree Swallow, 1st year female

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A common swallow of marshes and open fields, the Tree Swallow is a ready inhabitant of nest boxes.

Cool Facts

• Go here to take a look at what goes on inside a Tree Swallow nestbox, through the help of a Nest Box Cam provided by The Birdhouse Network at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

• Outside of the breeding season the Tree Swallow congregates into enormous flocks and night roosts, sometimes numbering in the hundreds of thousands. They gather about an hour before sunset at a roost site, forming a dense cloud. They swirl around like a living tornado and as darkness approaches they then wheel low over the cattail marsh or grove of small trees. Large numbers drop down into the roost with each pass of the flock until the flock disappears.

• The Tree Swallow uses many feathers from other birds in its nest. The feathers help keep the nestlings warm so they can grow faster. They help keep levels of ectoparasites, like mites, low too.

• The Tree Swallow winters farther north than any other American swallow, and it returns to its nesting grounds long before other swallows come back. Its ability to use plant foods helps it survive periods of bad weather.

Description

• Size: 12-15 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 30-35 cm (12-14 in)
• Weight: 16-25 g (0.56-0.88 ounces)

• Small slender songbird.
• White underneath and shiny blue-green on top.
• Small bill.
• Long wings.

• Tail notched and of medium length.
• Face dark, throat white.

Sex Differences

Adults similar in appearance; yearling female and juveniles brown.

Female

Yearling female brown on back with faint greenish sheen and some iridescent greenish blue feathers. Underparts white, sometimes with faint brown band across breast.

Immature

Juvenile sooty gray on back, without trace of blue. Underparts dull white. Dirty brown band across chest.

Similar Species

• Violet-Green Swallow similar, but with emerald-green back, white cheeks extending above the eye, and white sides of the rump.
• Bank Swallow with distinct brown band across chest, not the dirty wash of a juvenile Tree Swallow.
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow always with brown throat.

  Sound

  Song a series of repeated whistles and twitters.

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  Range

  Range Map
  
  
  

  © 2003 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

  About the map

  Summer Range

  Breeds from Alaska to Labrador, southward to southern California, New Mexico, northern South Dakota, northern Georgia, and Virginia.

  Winter Range

  Winters from southern California, South Carolina, Florida, and the Gulf Coast southward to Panama.

  Habitat

  Open areas near water and fields, especially wooded swamps and shorelines.

  Food

  Flying insects and some berries.

  Behavior

  Foraging

  Catches insects in flight.

  Reproduction

  Nest Type

  Nest an open cup of grass or pine needles placed in tree cavity or nest box. Lined with feathers, usually of waterfowl.

  Egg Description

  White.

  Clutch Size

  2-8 eggs.

  Condition at Hatching

  Helpless with sparse down.

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  Conservation Status

  Increasing slightly across most of range.

  Other Names

  Hirondelle bicolore (French)
  Golondrina invernal (Spanish)
  

  Sources used to construct this page:

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  1. Robertson, R. J., B. J. Stutchbury, and R. R. Cohen. Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor). In The Birds of North America, No. 11 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
  2. Winkler, D. W. 1993. Use and importance of feathers as nest lining in Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). Auk 110:29-36.
   
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