Order
Passeriformes
Family
Hirundinidae
Genus
Atticora
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

White-banded Swallow Atticora fasciata

Natalia Piland
Version: 1.0 — Published April 5, 2010

Appearance

Distinguishing Characteristics

The White-banded Swallow is a medium sized bird with mainly blue-black plumage, with a white band across its chest, and a long, deeply-forked tail. Its thighs are also white, but these are hard to see in the field.

Similar Species

The White-banded Swallow is not likely to be confused with any other species. In eastern South America, however, White-banded Swallows overlaps in distribution with another species of swallow, Black-collared Swallow (Pygochelidon melanoleuca), which also occurs along rivers and has a long, deeply-forked tail. However, The Black-collared Swallow has the opposite color pattern on the underparts: the breast and belly are white, with a single dark band across the breast.

Detailed Description

An elegant black-and-white bird, the White-banded Swallow is white only in an obvious band across its breast, subtle bars on the edge of the wing, and thighs. The rest of the plumage is completely black; its plumage has a blue-black sheen and its bill, eyes and legs are deep black. They are medium-sized and have a deeply forked tail. Sexes are similar, and the juvenile is duller and somewhat browner in color, and its feathers are shorter and paler (Turner 1989).

Molts

No information.

Bare Parts

The iris is black, while the tarsi is a pink fleshy color and the bill is a pale yellow/white.

Measurements

Total length: 15 mm

Wing length: mean 101.3 mm (range 92-108 mm)

Tail length: mean 66.7 mm (range 55-80 mm)

Depth of fork in tail: mean 31.5 mm (range 20-40 mm)

Bill length: mean 8.8 mm (range 8.1-9.2 mm)

Tarsus length: mean 10.5 mm (range 10-11 mm)

(Preceding mensural data from Turner and Rose 1989.)

Mass: males 12-14 g, females 12.6-15.8 g (Haverschmidt 1968); mean = 12.8 g (range 10.5-14.0 g, SD = 1.13, n = 8; Willard et al. 1991).

Recommended Citation

Piland, N. (2010). White-banded Swallow (Atticora fasciata), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.whbswa2.01