BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Tachycineta bicolor
Tree Swallow
| Scientific Name: | Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Tree Swallow | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | B-TRSW | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Apr 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5B (Mar 2022) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Migratory Bird Convention Act: | Y | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Egg dates: late April-late June in south, early May to mid-June in north. Clutch size usually is 4-6. Incubation, typically by fenale, lasts 13-16 days. Altricial young are tended by both sexes, leave nest 16-24 days after hatching (Terres 1980), receive little care after that. Inclement weather and resulting scarcity of food may result in high nestling mortality in some years. In Ontario, productivity was reduced near experimentally acidified lakes (St. Louis and Barlow, 1993, Can. J. Zool. 71:1090-1097). Generally monogamous, but sometimes polygynous if food is superabundant. Nests alone or in loose colony. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Many may congregate where food abundant or in roosts when weather cold. When not breeding, flocks may contain 1000s of individuals. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
N / N / Y / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Main migration routes include U.S. east coast, Mississippi Basin, along Rockies (see Turner and Rose 1989). Migrates northward early, February-March in most of U.S. (Terres 1980). Large numbers of south-bound migrants pass through Florida in late fall, beginning in late September or October (Smith and Smith 1990). Irregularly rare to locally common migrant in Costa Rica, early September-late October and March-April (Stiles and Skutch 1989). | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
Agriculture / Cultivated Field / Facultative - frequent use
Agriculture / Hedgerow / Facultative - frequent use Agriculture / Pasture/Old Field / Facultative - frequent use Anthropogenic / Industrial / Facultative - frequent use Anthropogenic / Urban/Suburban / Facultative - frequent use Forest / Conifer Forest - Dry / Facultative - frequent use Forest / Conifer Forest - Mesic (average) / Facultative - frequent use Forest / Conifer Forest - Moist/wet / Facultative - frequent use Forest / Deciduous/Broadleaf Forest / Facultative - frequent use Forest / Garry Oak Woodland / Facultative - occasional use Forest / Mixed Forest (deciduous/coniferous mix) / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Antelope-brush Steppe / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Grassland / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Meadow / Facultative - frequent use Grassland/Shrub / Sagebrush Steppe / Facultative - frequent use Lakes / Lake / Facultative - frequent use Lakes / Pond/Open Water / Facultative - frequent use Ocean / Intertidal Marine / Facultative - occasional use Ocean / Sheltered Waters - Marine / Facultative - occasional use Other Unique Habitats / Estuary / Facultative - frequent use Other Unique Habitats / Mudflats - Intertidal / Facultative - occasional use Riparian / Riparian Forest / Facultative - frequent use Riparian / Riparian Herbaceous / Facultative - occasional use Stream/River / Stream/River / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Bog / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Fen / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Marsh / Facultative - frequent use Wetland / Swamp / Facultative - frequent use |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Open situations near water, including streams, lakes, ponds, marshes and coastal regions (AOU 1983); savanna, pastures, etc. Nests usually near water in a natural tree cavity or abandoned woodpecker hole, less frequently in open woodland away from water. Also nests in bird boxes or in a crevice in a building. Territoriality may limit use of suitable nest sites. Tends to return to same nest site in subsequent years if reproduction successful; first-year breeders return to nest usually within 100 km or less of natal site (Turner and Rose 1989). | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Catches flying insects in the air over land or water. Also forages on the ground for beetles, bugs, beach "fleas", and spiders. Occasionally eats some seeds and fruits (e.g., MYRICA fruits during inclement weather when insects unavailable, especially in fall in the eastern coastal U.S.) (Place and Stiles 1992). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Diurnal: Adult, Immature
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| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 15/ / 20 | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | BREEDS: western Alaska to Newfoundland, south to southern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, northeastern Louisiana, western Mississippi, Tennessee and North Carolina, casually to southern states. Range has expanded in southeastern U.S. in recent decades, perhaps facilitated by land clearing, impoundments, beaver reintroduction, and use of bluebird nest boxes (Lee 1993). WINTERS: primarily from southern California and extreme southern U.S. through Mexico to Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, sporatically to Panama; Bahamas and Greater Antilles (Puerto Rico: rare), rarely to northern South America (Ridgely and Tudor 1989). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | May 20, 1994 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp. |
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Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J.M. Cooper, G.W. Kaiser, M.C.E. McNall and G.E.J. Smith 1997. The Birds of British Columbia, Vol. 3, Passerines: Flycatchers through Vireos. UBC Press in cooperation with Environ. Can., Can. Wildl. Serv. and B.C. Minist. Environ., Lands and Parks, Wildl. Branch. 700pp. |
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Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp. |
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Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio. |
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Lee, D. S. 1993. Range expansion of the tree swallow, TACHYCINETA BICOLOR (Passeriformes: Hirundinidae), in the southeastern United States. Brimleyana 18:103-113. |
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Lumsden, H. G. 1989. Test of nest box preferences of eastern bluebirds, SIALIA SIALIS, and tree swallows, TACHYCINETA BICOLOR. Can. Field-Nat. 103:595-597. |
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Mitchell, W. A. 1988. Songbird nest boxes. Section 5.1.8, US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual. Tech. Rep. EL-88-19. Waterways Expt. Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi. 48 pp. |
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National Geographic Society (NGS). 1983. Field guide to the birds of North America. National Geographic Society, Washington, DC. |
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Oberholser, H.C. 1974. The bird life of Texas. 2 vols. Univ. of Texas Press, Austin. |
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Place, A.R., and E.W. Stiles. 1992. Living off the wax of the land: bayberries and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Auk 109:334-345. |
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Raffaele, H. A. 1983a. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Fondo Educativo Interamericano, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 255 pp. |
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Ridgely, R. S. and G. Tudor. 1989. The birds of South America. Volume 1. University of Texas Press, Austin, USA. 516 pp. |
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Sheldon, F. H., and D. W. Winkler. 1993. Intergeneric phylogenetic relationships of swallows estimated by DNA-DNA hybridization. Auk 110:798-824. |
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Smith, P. W., and S. A. Smith. 1990. The identification and status of the Bahama swallow in Florida. Birding 22:264-271. |
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Stiles, F. G. and A. F. Skutch. 1989. A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. 511 pp. |
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Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. |
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Turner, A., and C. Rose. 1989. Swallows and martins an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Tachycineta bicolor. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed May 5, 2025).