Tree Swallow are streamlined small songbirds with long pointed wings and a short, squared’ slightly notched tail. Adult males are blue green above and white below with blackish flight feathers and a thin black eye mask; females are duller with more brown in their upperparts, and juveniles are completely brown above. Juveniles and some females can show a weak, blurry gray-brown breast band. You can see them right now all over Seabrooks skies. They are flying in large flocks. A Tree Swallow flies acrobatically chasing insects in mid-air. They eat mostly insects, with some mollusks, spiders, fruit, berries, and seeds. Tree Swallows gather in large flocks to molt and migrate. In the nonbreeding season, they form huge communal roosts.
Tree Swallows nest either in isolated pairs or loose groups, in both natural and artificial cavities. The nest cup itself is made from grass, moss, pine needles, and aquatic plants collected mostly by the female and is lined with feathers gathered primarily by the male in fights. The feathers may function to insulate the nest, decreasing incubation time. The female incubates the clutch of 2 to 8 (but usually 4 to 7) pure white eggs for around 14 to 15 days. The chicks hatch blind, helpless, and sparsely covered with down. They generally fledge about 18 to 22 days after hatching.
Tree swallows breed in the United States and Canada. They winter along southern US coasts, along the Gulf Coast, to Panama and the northwestern coast of South America, and in the West Indies.
According to Partners in Flight resource, the total breeding population size of the Tree swallow is 19,000,000 birds. Overall, currently, this species is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List and its numbers today are stable.
Article: Melanie Jerome
Photos: Ed Konrad and Bob Mercer
This blog post is part of a series SIB will publish on a regular basis to feature birds seen in the area, both migratory and permanent residents. When possible we will use photographs taken by our members. Please let us know if you have any special requests of birds you would like to learn more about.
If you would like to learn more about this bird visit The Cornell Lab of Ornithology