Tachycineta bicolor

Description

The tree swallow has a white front and a shiny blue-green back. It has long dark wings and a dark tail with a notch in it.

Voice

The tree swallow has two call notes: "cheet" and "chi-veet." It has two notes ("weet" and "trit") that it uses in a lot of different combinations to make its songs.

Breeding

April to August

Habitat

Tree swallows like open areas around water, like meadows, marshes, lakes, and streams. They build their nests in man-made houses or in holes in trees.

Diet

These birds like open areas, because they need plenty of space to fly around and catch insects. Tree swallows eat berries in the winter when there are not as many bugs around.

Range

You can find these birds in Canada and the central and northern United States during the summer and along the Gulf coast during the winter. They migrate through the southern states.

Other Useful Information

These are very social birds and they like to stay in large flocks.

Similar Species

A young tree swallow looks a little like a northern rough-winged swallow, because young tree swallows have dusky backs and a faint breast band. However, the northern rough-winged swallow has a dusky brown chin and throat and much more of a breastband than the young tree swallow.