Mangrove Swallow
Tachycineta albilinea
Unlike many other swallow species, Mangrove Swallows are highly territorial during breeding season and will fiercely defend their chosen nesting cavity from rivals.
- Scientific name
- Tachycineta albilinea
- Taxonomy
- Animalia › Chordata › Aves › Passeriformes › Hirundinidae › Tachycineta
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- decreasing
- Biome
- wetland
- Habitat
- Mangrove swamps, estuaries, coastal lagoons, and low-lying rivers.
- Diet
- A wide variety of small flying insects, including flies, beetles, and winged ants.
- Range
- Mexico, Central America, Colombia, Peru
- Size
- 11 to 12 cm long, weighing roughly 10 to 14 grams
- Lifespan
- 3 to 5 years
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Coastal development, mangrove deforestation, and pesticide use that depletes insect populations.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless. These active birds are completely safe to observe from any distance. Avoid approaching active nesting cavities in dead trees to prevent disrupting breeding pairs. If you find an injured bird, contact a local wildlife rehabilitator immediately.
The mangrove swallow ( Tachycineta albilinea ) is a passerine bird in the swallow family that breeds in coastal regions from Mexico through Central America to Panama. It has blue-green upperparts, blackish flight feathers, a white rump, a black tail, and white underparts. It can be identified by the supraloral white streak, the white line near its eye, which only occurs in two other species of Tachycineta : the violet-green swallow and the white-rumped swallow. The sexes, although similar...
Photo: Ricard Busquets Reverte, CC-BY, via iNaturalist
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