Violet-green Swallow

Violet-green Swallow, male

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Violet-green Swallow, female 1st year

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A beautiful swallow of open woodlands, the Violet-green Swallow is found only in the American West.

Description

• Small slender songbird.
• White underneath and shiny greenish bronze on top.
• Face white.
• Small bill.
• Long wings.

• Size: 12 cm (5 in)
• Wingspan: 27 cm (11 in)
• Weight: 14 g (0.49 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes similar in appearance, but female browner on head and sides of face, may have dusky in throat.

Sound

Call a chirping series of "chee-chee" notes.

Conservation Status

Ability to nest in remote areas and near people has kept populations relatively stable.

Other Names

Hirondelle à face blanche (French)
Golondrina verde-violeta (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Violet-green Swallow is very similar to the Tree Swallow, both in appearance and ecology, and their ranges overlap. However, it is more closely related to two other swallows found in the Caribbean: the Golden and Bahama swallows.

• A pair of Violet-green Swallows was observed assisting a pair of Western Bluebirds in raising young. The swallows guarded the nest and tended the bluebird nestlings, and after the bluebirds fledged, the swallows used the nest site for their own young.

Sources used to construct this page:

1. Brown, C. R., A. M. Knott, and E. J. Damrose. 1992. Violet-green Swallow (Tachycineta thalassina). In The Birds of North America, No. 14 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.
2. Pyle, P. 1997. Identification Guide to North American Birds. Part I. Columbidae to Ploceidae . Slate Creek Press, Bolinas, CA.
3. Whittingham, L. A., B. Slikas, D. W. Winkler, and F. H. Sheldon. 2002. Phylogeny of the tree swallow genus, Tachycineta (Aves: Hirundinidae), by Bayesian analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 22: 430-441.