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Bahama Swallow | Tachycineta cyaneoviridis
Bahamazwaluw | Golondrina de las Bahamas
The Bahama Swallow is the only swallow that breeds solely in the Bahamas. It depends on the Caribbean pine Pinus caribaea forests of a few northern islands and nests in old woodpecker holes. Outside the breeding season part of the population spreads through the southern Bahamas, and a few reach eastern Cuba.
Voice
A thin tsee-tsip and squeaky calls; the song is a flowing series of clear notes.
No recording with a suitable Creative Commons licence is available for this species yet.
Identification
14–15 cm, slender, with long wings and a deeply forked tail. Upperparts are dark blue-green, wings and tail blue-black. Chin, throat and underparts are pure white, as are the underwing-coverts. The female is duller, with browner upperparts and a shallower tail fork. Juveniles are grey-brown above, with a greyish breast and a shorter tail fork.
Confusion species
Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor, a winter visitor that can occur alongside it in the Bahamas, has a short, barely notched tail, a bluer back and a grey underwing. Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica also has a deeply forked tail, but a rufous throat and a dark breast band. Northern Rough-winged Swallow Stelgidopteryx serripennis is brown above with a grey-brown throat.
Habitat
Breeds in pine forest, in old holes of West Indian Woodpecker Melanerpes superciliaris and other cavities in pines, sometimes in poles or buildings. The nest is made of pine needles, casuarina twigs and grass, lined with feathers; the clutch is usually three eggs. It forages over the forest and over clearings, marshes, fields, ponds and settlements, feeding on flying insects.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
Breeds on Grand Bahama, Abaco and Andros; on New Providence the breeding population has declined sharply and may have disappeared. In winter also in the central and southern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, and scarce in eastern Cuba. A vagrant to southern Florida.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
The pine forests of Abaco and Andros are the best places in the breeding season, roughly April to July, when birds fly around dead trees with woodpecker holes. In winter also at ponds and marshes, sometimes among Tree Swallows; the long tail fork and white underwing are then the best features.
Conservation status
Endangered (EN). The population is small and confined to a few islands. Logging and fires have degraded the pine forest, and Hurricane Dorian (2019) destroyed large parts of the forest on Grand Bahama and Abaco. Competition for nest holes with introduced cavity nesters may also play a role.
Scientific name
Tachycineta cyaneoviridis | (Bryant, 1859)
Bryant described the species in 1859 as Hirundo cyaneoviridis; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Tachycineta was introduced in 1851 by Cabanis. Tachycineta is Greek, from takhukinētos 'moving quickly', after the fast, agile flight. cyaneoviridis is Latin, from cyaneus 'dark blue' and viridis 'green', after the blue-green upperparts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Nassau, New Providence, Bahamas.