Blue-and-white swallow

Appearance

The adult blue-and-white swallow averages 11–12 cm long and weighs about 10 g. It has dark blue upperparts and white underparts, and its underwings and the undersurface of its short forked tail are blackish. The juvenile is brown above, buff-tinted below, and has a less forked tail. The call is a buzzing ''dzzzhreeee''.

Naming

Sometimes placed in the genus ''Pygochelidon'', it was first formally described as ''Hirundo cyanoleuca'' by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in 1817, based on a specimen he believed to be from Paraguay. The scientific name has the same meaning as the English common name.

Status

This common and popular species has benefited greatly from deforestation and human settlement which have increased the amount of suitable habitat and food. Consequently, it is not considered threatened by the IUCN.

Habitat

This is a swallow of open areas including villages and towns, farms, and forest clearings. In Central America, it is a highland bird, but elsewhere in its range it can occur from the lowlands to an altitude of 4,000 m.

Reproduction

The blue-and-white swallow's shallow straw nest is built by both adults in a wide range of natural or man-made cavities include tree holes, rock crevices and bridges. The clutch is up to six white eggs in the south of the range, two or three in the north, which are incubated by both parents for 15 days to hatching. The nestlings are fed by both parents for 26 days to fledging, bur return to the nest to sleep with the parents for up to two months. There may be two broods.

Food

This species is often found in small flocks when not breeding. The blue-and-white swallow subsists primarily on a diet of insects, caught in the air; they have been seen to gather where termites swarm. The flight is typically fluttery, and this swallow frequently perches on wires or branches.