• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Local Navigation
  • Skip to Search
  • Skip to Sitemap
  • Skip to Footer
Help develop a Bird ID tool!

Tree Swallow

Tachycineta bicolor ORDER: PASSERIFORMES FAMILY: HIRUNDINIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

  • Similar Species
  • Related Species
  • Go to:

A common swallow of marshes and open fields, the Tree Swallow is a ready inhabitant of nest boxes.

Get BNA: the definitive resource for North American birds

Appearance

Swallows
Swallows
Typical Voice

Adult Description

  • Small slender songbird.
  • White underneath and shiny blue-green on top.
  • Small bill.
  • Long wings.

Female Description

Yearling female brown on back with faint greenish sheen and some iridescent greenish blue feathers. Underparts white, sometimes with faint brown band across breast.

Immature Description

Juvenile sooty gray on back, without trace of blue. Underparts dull white. Dirty brown band across chest.

Range Map Help

Tree Swallow Range Map
View dynamic map of eBird sightings

Field MarksHelp

  • Adult male
    Zoom In

    Tree Swallow

    Adult male
    • © Marie Read
  • First-year female
    Zoom In

    Tree Swallow

    First-year female
    • © Marie Read

Similar Species

  • Violet-Green Swallow similar, but with emerald-green back, white cheeks extending above the eye, and white sides of the rump.
  • Bank Swallow with distinct brown band across chest, not the dirty wash of a juvenile Tree Swallow.
  • Northern Rough-winged Swallow always with brown throat.

    You Might Also Like

    Tree Swallow Farmer: a Cornell researcher's 22-year fascination with swallows. Story and photos in Living Bird magazine.