Tachycineta albiventer
The White-winged Swallow (Tachycineta albiventer) is a striking and agile aerial insectivore, celebrated for its iridescent plumage and graceful flight over tropical waterways. Measuring approximately 13-14 cm (5.1-5.5 in) in length and weighing around 12-18 g (0.4-0.6 oz), this slender passerine showcases brilliant glossy blue-green to blue-black upperparts that shimmer in the sunlight, contrasting sharply with its pure white underparts. Its most distinctive field mark, providing its common ...
Found primarily in open country near fresh water, including rivers, lakes, ponds, and marshes, often at low elevations up to 1000 meters, occasionally higher.
Exclusively insectivorous, primarily consuming a wide array of aerial insects such as flies, beetles, ants, and bees caught on the wing.
White-winged Swallows are diurnal, highly social birds outside the breeding season, often forming large communal roosts in reeds, trees, or over water. Their foraging strategy involves incredibly agile aerial pursuit of insects, performed with rapid, erratic flight patterns, often skimming very l...
The White-winged Swallow boasts a widespread resident distribution across much of tropical South America, primarily east of the Andes. Its range extends from northern Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, south through much of Brazil, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, eastern Bol...
Least Concern
- The 'white-winged' epithet refers specifically to the white lesser and median wing coverts, rather than the primary flight feathers, making them a key identification feature. - These swallows are often observed perching on emergent vegetation, wires, or even floating debris in the water. - They...