Violet-green Swallow

Tachycineta thalassina

The violet-green swallow is a small North American passerine bird in the swallow family. These aerial insectivores are distributed along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico, extending as far east as Montana and Texas. With an appearance very similar to the tree swallow, these individuals can be identified by the white rump side-patches that appear to separate their green back and purple tail. Violet-green swallows are secondary cavity nesters, found in a number of habitats including deciduous and coniferous forest. In addition to nesting in tree holes within these habitats, they are also widely observed nesting in the cracks of large cliffs. Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 8,856 times across 20 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Violet-green Swallow on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 14°C (typically 12 to 21°C, from 24 areas).

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in North America ranged from 44°N in July to 53°N in June, about 1,000 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

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Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.