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The mangrove swallow (''Tachycineta albilinea'') is a
passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
in the
swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
family that breeds in coastal regions from
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
through
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
to
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
. It has blue-green upperparts, blackish
flight feather Flight feathers (''Pennae volatus'') are the long, stiff, asymmetrically shaped, but symmetrically paired pennaceous feathers on the wings or tail of a bird; those on the wings are called remiges (), singular remex (), while those on the tai ...
s, a white rump, a black tail, and white underparts. It can be identified by the white streak, the white line near its eye, which only occurs in two other species of '' Tachycineta'': the
violet-green swallow The violet-green swallow (''Tachycineta thalassina'') is a small North American passerine bird in the Hirundinidae, swallow family. These aerial insectivores are distributed along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico, extending as far east as Mon ...
and the white-rumped swallow. The sexes, although similar in
plumage Plumage () is a layer of feathers that covers a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage differ between species and subspecies and may vary with age classes. Within species, there can b ...
, differ slightly in size. The juveniles have grey-brown upperparts and white-washed underparts. This swallow's
song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...
is generally described as a soft trilling, with a rolled ''jeerrt'' call, and a sharp alarm note. The mangrove swallow is very
territorial A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...
when breeding, much like the related
tree swallow The tree swallow (''Tachycineta bicolor'') is a migratory bird of the family Hirundinidae. Found in the Americas, the tree swallow was first described in 1807 by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot as ''Hirundo bicolor''. It has since been mov ...
. Its
nest A nest is a structure built for certain animals to hold Egg (biology), eggs or young. Although nests are most closely associated with birds, members of all classes of vertebrates and some invertebrates construct nests. They may be composed of ...
is normally built in a hole or crevice near water and less than above the ground. This species usually feeds alone when breeding, but will feed in groups when not. It normally forages closer to the nest when hunting for its chicks, but will go much further when foraging for itself. In between foraging attempts, it is frequently seen perching near water. It is an aerial
insectivore file:Common brown robberfly with prey.jpg, A Asilidae, robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivore, carnivorous animal or plant which eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the Entomophagy ...
and eats unusually large
prey Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not ki ...
for its size. With an estimated population of at least 500,000 individuals, the mangrove swallow is classified as a species of
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...
(IUCN). Its numbers are decreasing, although not fast enough for it to be classified as vulnerable. Little is known about the predation of this species, although it is a
host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...
of '' Sternostoma hirundinis'', a type of nasal
mite Mites are small arachnids (eight-legged arthropods) of two large orders, the Acariformes and the Parasitiformes, which were historically grouped together in the subclass Acari. However, most recent genetic analyses do not recover the two as eac ...
. It has also been known to lose nests both to
termite Termites are a group of detritivore, detritophagous Eusociality, eusocial cockroaches which consume a variety of Detritus, decaying plant material, generally in the form of wood, Plant litter, leaf litter, and Humus, soil humus. They are dist ...
s and
black flies A black fly or blackfly (sometimes called a buffalo gnat, turkey gnat, or white socks) is any member of the family Simuliidae of the Culicomorpha infraorder. It is related to the Ceratopogonidae, Chironomidae, and Thaumaleidae. Over 2,200 speci ...
.


Taxonomy and etymology

The mangrove swallow was formally described in 1863 as ''Petrochelidon albilinea'' by American amateur
ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...
George Newbold Lawrence George Newbold Lawrence (October 20, 1806 – January 17, 1895) was an American businessman and amateur ornithologist. Early life Lawrence was born in the city of New York on October 20, 1806. From his youth, Lawrence was a lover of birds and sp ...
. Its current
genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
, '' Tachycineta'', was originally described in 1850 by the German ornithologist
Jean Cabanis Jean Louis Cabanis (8 March 1816 – 20 February 1906) was a German ornithologist. He worked at the bird collections of the Natural History Museum in Berlin becoming its first curator of birds in 1850. He founded the ''Journal für Ornithologie ...
. The genus name ''Tachycineta'' is from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
''takhukinetos'', "moving quickly", and the specific ''albilinea'' is from
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''albus'', "white", and ''linea'', "line". The ''Tachycineta'' species are members of the
swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...
family of birds, and are placed in the Hirundininae subfamily, which comprises all swallows and martins except the very distinctive
river martin The river martins form a distinctive subfamily Pseudochelidoninae within the swallow and martin bird family Hirundinidae. The two species are the African river martin ''Pseudochelidon eurystomina'', found in the Congo and Gabon, and the white- ...
s.
DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
studies suggest that there are three major groupings within the Hirundininae, broadly correlating with the type of nest built. These groups are the "core martins", including burrowing species like the
sand martin The sand martin (''Riparia riparia''), also known as collared sand martin or common sand martin, and in the Americas as the bank swallow, is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has a wide range in summer, embracing ...
, the "nest-adopters", which are birds that utilise natural cavities, and the "mud nest builders" such as the ''
Delichon ''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and ...
'' house martins. The ''Tachycineta'' species belong to the "nest-adopter" group. All nine ''Tachycineta'' species have glossy blue or green backs and white underparts, but the five species with white rumps – the mangrove swallow, Tumbes swallow, white-winged swallow, white-rumped swallow and Chilean swallow – are particularly closely related, the first three and the last two forming two
superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
. The Tumbes swallow of coastal Peru was formerly considered to be a
subspecies In Taxonomy (biology), biological classification, subspecies (: subspecies) is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (Morphology (biology), morpholog ...
of the mangrove swallow, but its calls, behaviour, and
cytochrome b Cytochrome b is a protein found in the membranes of aerobic cells. In eukaryotic mitochondria (inner membrane) and in aerobic prokaryotes, cytochrome b is a component of respiratory chain complex III () — also known as the bc1 complex or ubiq ...
data indicate that it should be considered a separate species. It is also differentiated from the mangrove swallow by its lack of a supraloral white line and by its slight difference in size.


Description

A relatively small swallow, the mangrove swallow is long and weighs about . The adult has
iridescent Iridescence (also known as goniochromism) is the phenomenon of certain surfaces that appear gradually to change colour as the angle of view or the angle of illumination changes. Iridescence is caused by wave interference of light in microstruc ...
blue-green upperparts, white underparts, rump, and undertail- and
wing-coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...
, and blackish tail and flight feathers. The feathers are greener when fresh and bluer when worn. The white underparts sometimes have faint, dark shaft streaks. The
bill Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pl ...
is small and black, about long. The iris is a dark brown, and the tarsus and toes range in colour from black to fuscous-brown. The lores are black and have a thin white line above them. Two other species of ''Tachycineta'' have this distinctive feature: the
violet-green swallow The violet-green swallow (''Tachycineta thalassina'') is a small North American passerine bird in the Hirundinidae, swallow family. These aerial insectivores are distributed along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico, extending as far east as Mon ...
and the white-rumped swallow. The adult's tail is only slightly forked. The sexes are similar, although they differ slightly in size. Compared to the male, the female has a slightly longer tail and slightly shorter wings. The juvenile is dull grey-brown above and grey-brown washed white below. Occasionally, the juvenile's upperparts have a subtle, greenish gloss. p101–102 The call of the mangrove swallow is a rolled ''"jeerrrt"'', or a ''"chriet"''. The song is frequently described as a soft trilling. It uses a short sharp alarm note.


Distribution

This swallow is native to
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
and all of
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
(
Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...
,
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
,
Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...
,
El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
,
Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
and
Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
). It is usually found near low-lying bodies of water and
mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...
forests, which gave rise to the
common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...
. It has also been recorded in
intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...
s. In Mexico, it is not typically found above . In Costa Rica, it has been found to occur as high as , but it normally occurs between and sea level. It is rarely found in the highlands. The mangrove swallow is also
vagrant Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, or petty theft. In Western countries, ...
to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, where it was first recorded in 2002, in
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
. Although the mangrove swallow is a full-time resident of its
range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...
, there are probably some post-breeding movements.


Behaviour

The mangrove swallow is closely associated with fairly still, open water, and is often found in small flocks over rivers or lakes when not breeding. Its flight path is normally direct and low over water. It flies with quick wingbeats and some
gliding Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sports, air sport in which pilots fly glider aircraft, unpowered aircraft known as Glider (sailplane), gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmospher ...
. In between foraging attempts, it can frequently be seen to perch. Mangrove swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) in flight Peten.jpg Mangrove swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) in flight Peten 3.jpg


Habitat

The mangrove swallow is a solitary bird; its nests are not found closer than away from each other, and usually have about separating them. The nest itself is built in natural or artificial cavities near water, usually in a tree stump or dead tree. It is also not uncommon for it to nest in
nest box A nest box, also spelled nestbox, is a man-made enclosure provided for animals to nest in. Nest boxes are most frequently utilized for birds, in which case they are also called birdhouses or a birdbox/bird box, but some mammals such as bats ma ...
es. The nest is a few centimetres deep and made with grass, fine stems, moss, and a few leaves and sticks. It is padded with feathers. The nest is normally found to occur below . While the nest is built relatively low, it is still normally above the water level of a typical flood. Sites include tree holes and crevices in rock or bridges.


Breeding

During its five-month breeding season, the mangrove swallow typically lays two broods. The data suggests that the breeding season is from approximately January to July in Central America, and from around March to June or July in Mexico. Like the related tree swallow, this species is very aggressive to other hirundines when breeding and is very territorial. This swallow is
socially monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a relationship of two individuals in which they form a mutual and exclusive intimate partnership. Having only one partner at any one time, whether for life or serial monogamy, contrasts with various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., ...
, with some extra-pair mating. For example, about 15% of nestlings and about 25% of broods are developed through extra-pair paternity. A nest with extra-pair young is, on average, about away from its nearest neighbour. Extra-pair young are also correlated with the breeding synchrony index, or the percentage of females fertile simultaneously. The fact that the laying of eggs is not synchronized within a population is due to the long breeding season of the mangrove swallow. This swallow also displays paternity assurance behaviour. For example, males follow fertile females more often than females follow males. The period of fertility is from six days before the first egg is laid until the second to last egg is laid. The
clutch A clutch is a mechanical device that allows an output shaft to be disconnected from a rotating input shaft. The clutch's input shaft is typically attached to a motor, while the clutch's output shaft is connected to the mechanism that does th ...
is three to five white eggs which hatch in 17 days. On average the eggs measure and weigh about . The eggs hatch asynchronously, with about a 60% hatchability. The nestlings are fed by both parents for 23–27 days to
fledging Fledging is the stage in a flying animal's life between hatching or birth and becoming capable of flight. This term is most frequently applied to birds, but is also used for bats. For altricial birds, those that spend more time in vulnerable c ...
. Usually, there is only one successful fledgling per nest.


Diet

The mangrove swallow subsists primarily on a diet of small, flying
insects Insects (from Latin ') are hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed ...
, including large species such as
dragonflies A dragonfly is a flying insect belonging to the infraorder Anisoptera below the order Odonata. About 3,000 extant species of dragonflies are known. Most are tropical, with fewer species in temperate regions. Loss of wetland habitat threate ...
and
bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamil ...
s. The prey it feeds on is large for a bird of its size. This swallow usually feeds close over bays, lakes, and large rivers, but sometimes can be found to forage or more above the water. It normally forages in the early morning and late afternoon, with nestlings being fed just after sunrise and before sunset. Non-breeding mangrove swallows normally forage in small flocks, although when breeding, it feeds alone or in pairs. The mangrove swallow typically stays within about of its nest when it is foraging for the nestlings. But, when hunting for itself, it has been recorded to go as far out as from its nest. Ordinarily, it will feed within its own territory.


Predators and parasites

Not much is known about the predators and parasites of the mangrove swallow, although it has been known to lose nests to termites and black flies. The black flies are mainly local and typically only affect artificial nest boxes. The prevalence of the flies is linked to nearby streams and is dependent on weather conditions. This swallow is a host to the parasite '' Sternostoma hirundinis'', a type of nasal mite.


Status

As of 2016, the mangrove swallow is classified as
least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...
by the
IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...
. There is some evidence that the population is decreasing. This is probably due to
habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
or the use of
pesticide Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
s. The justification for classifying this species as least concern is its large population, estimated to be greater than 500,000 individuals, and its extremely large range, estimated to be about . Although the population is decreasing, it is not decreasing rapidly enough to be classified as a vulnerable species.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q942435 Mangrove swallow Mangrove swallow Birds of Central America Mangrove swallow Mangrove swallow