Tree Swallows

Description:

This swallow averages 13.5 cm (5 inches) long and weighs about 20 g. The bill is tiny. The adult Tree Swallow has iridescent blue-green upperparts, white underparts, and a very slightly forked tail. The female usually has duller colours than the male, often more greenish than the more bluish male. The juvenile plumage is dull grey-brown above and may have hint of a gray breast band. Being highly social outside of the breeding season, tree swallows may form flocks of several thousand birds near roost sites.

Habitat:

Typically near water and sometimes in large flocks (like these). It breeds in North America and winters in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. It is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. This flock was photographed over the marsh at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrells Inlet, SC. The beach is within 50 yards of the marsh.

Notes:

They subsist primarily on a diet of insects, sometimes supplemented with small quantities of fruit. They are excellent fliers and take off from their perch and acrobatically catch insects in their bills in mid-air.