White-winged Swallow
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| Tachycineta albiventer (Boddaert, 1783) |
The White-winged Swallow, Tachycineta albiventer, is a resident breeding bird in tropical South America from Colombia, Venezuela and Trinidad south to northern Argentina.
This swallow builds a cup nest lined with feathers in a tree hole, between boulders or in man-made structures. The clutch is 3-6 white eggs.
The adult White-winged Swallow is 13.2 cm long and weighs 17 g. It has iridiscent blue-green upperparts, white underparts and rump , and white edgings to the secondary flight feathers. The sexes are similar, but juvenile plumage is grey brown above apart from the white rump.
White-winged Swallow is easily distinguished from the related Tree Swallow, which has occurred within its range, by the white in the wings; this is lacking in the otherwise quite similar northern species.
White-winged Swallow is usually found near water, and feeds primarily on fling insects. It normally occurs in pairs or small flocks. The call is a harsh chirrup.
[edit] References
- BirdLife International (2004). Tachycineta albiventer. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
- ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, 2nd edition, Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
- Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.
- Turner, Angela; Rose, Chris (1989). Swallows and martins: an identification guide and handbook. Houghton-Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-51174-7.
