All species › Passerines › Swallows and martins › White-winged Swallow
White-winged Swallow | Tachycineta albiventer
Witvleugelzwaluw | Golondrina aliblanca
The White-winged Swallow is a South American swallow that in the region occurs only on Trinidad. It is closely tied to water and often perches on branches, posts or dead trees over rivers and ponds, making short hunting sallies low over the water.
Voice
A rising, buzzy zweeed and a harsh chirrup; the alarm call is short and hard.
Recording: Nunes D´Acosta — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm, with a glossy blue-green head and back, a white rump and pure white underparts. The wings are blackish, with a white patch on the inner secondaries and greater coverts that is obvious both perched and in flight. The tail is blackish and slightly notched. The sexes are almost alike. Juveniles are duller and greyer, with greyish underparts and less white in the wing.
Confusion species
No other swallow in the region combines white wing patches with a white rump. Tree Swallow Tachycineta bicolor, a rare visitor to Trinidad, has a dark rump and no white in the wing. Blue-and-white Swallow Pygochelidon cyanoleuca is dark blue above with no white rump and has black undertail-coverts.
Habitat
Rivers, canals, reservoirs, ponds, rice fields, freshwater marshes and mangrove creeks in the lowlands. It hunts flying insects low over the water. The nest is a feather-lined cup in a tree hole, a rock crevice or a structure such as a bridge, usually a few metres above water; pairs nest on their own.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation types of the Caribbean.
Range and movements
In the region only on Trinidad, where it is fairly common along lowland rivers and ponds. It does not occur regularly on Tobago or the other islands. Outside the region from Colombia, Venezuela and the Guianas through the Amazon basin to northern Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
At rice fields, reservoirs and rivers in the Trinidad lowlands. Birds often use a favourite projecting branch over the water and return to it after each sally; the white wing patches show well even at a distance.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a large range and also uses man-made waters.
Scientific name
Tachycineta albiventer | (Boddaert, 1783)
Boddaert described the species in 1783 as Hirundo albiventer; 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. albiventer is Latin, from albus 'white' and venter 'belly', after the white belly. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.