Nature has a beautiful way of letting me know spring has arrived. The trilliums are the first to bloom and the Violet-green Swallows are the first migrating birds to arrive.
They usually show up with about 30 of their friends and spend their days darting around catching insects.
IDENTIFICATION
TOP OF HEAD: dark green, colored slightly with bronze
CHEEKS: Males are white. Females and juveniles have a grayish bronze tint to their cheeks.
THROAT: white
BELLY: white
WINGS: mix of dark grays, blues and greens
TAIL: short, mix of dark grays, blues and greens
BACK: dark green, colored slightly with bronze
RUMP: violet, with white saddlebags
BILL: tiny, dark
EYE: black
MALE:
FEMALE:
Back & Underside:
Notice the short tail and white saddlebags:
HABITAT
The Violet-green Swallow is a western North American bird, preferring woodland areas. They tend to show up around our house late March and stay until mid summer. When they are not here, they are in the Southern United States and Mexico.
Each year they make nests in bird houses we have placed in our Bird Village. I have also seen them in a tall tree snag not far from the Bird Village.
FEEDING
Violet-green Swallows spend much of their time swooping through the sky catching insects.
FRIENDS & FAMILY
FAMILY: Swallows
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Tachycineta thalassina
Primarily we have Violet-green Swallows visit us. But, usually there is a Tree Swallow or two with them.
BEHAVIOR
I am not sure if they are by nature a feisty bird, but I often notice quarrels among them.
They don’t tend to play nice with the Western Bluebirds that also want to make a temporary home in one of our bird houses.
PHOTO GALLERY
Happy Birding!
