Violet-green Swallow

Tachycineta thalassina

Order PASSERIFORMES - Family HIRUNDINIDAE

Menu

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

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.

Description

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

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

• White patch on sides of rump.
• White on face extends up over eyes.
• Tail notched.
• Eyes black.
• Bill black.
• Legs black.

Sex Differences

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

Immature

Juvenile sooty gray on back, underparts washed with gray, face dusky. Yearling female greenish on back with brownish on crown and rump.

Similar Species

• Tree Swallow similar, but with bluish green back, white on face not reaching above eye, and white flanks not reaching up onto rump.
• Bank Swallow with distinct brown band across chest.
• Northern Rough-winged Swallow always with brown throat.

Sound

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

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds from central Alaska southward to southern Mexico, and eastward to Alberta, western North Dakota, and western Texas.

Winter Range

Winters from Mexico southward to Nicaragua.

Habitat

Breeds in open woodlands, especially at middle elevations

Food

Flying insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Catches insects in flight. May forage in large flocks.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a shallow cup of grass, small twigs, rootlets, and straw placed in hole in tree, cliff cavity, or nest box. Lined with feathers.

Egg Description

White.

Clutch Size

4-6 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Helpless with sparse down

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)

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.