Violet-green swallow
Tachycineta thalassina
L 4¾″
Habitat: Ponderosa pine affords the favorite habitat for violet-green swallows (Bailey and Niedrach 1965), but they are also found in aspen-willow and spruce-aspen forests. They prefer open or broken woods or the edges of dense forests.
Nest: Violet-green swallows nest in holes, cavities, and crevices in a variety of situations. Where birds are abundant, the demand for nest sites is sometimes greater than the supply, and practically any available cavity may be used. These swallows have been reported to use old nests of cliff swallows and even burrows of bank swallow (Bent 1942). Winternitz (1973) reported violet-greens using old woodpecker holes in live aspen as nesting sites, but in Arizona, we found them nesting primarily in old woodpecker holes in ponderosa pine snags. We found one in the dead top of an aspen, 5 in dead tops of ponderosa pine, and 26 in ponderosa pine snags. Nest heights ranged from 16 to 80 feet and averaged 43 feet.
Food: Apparently, the diet of this species is exclusively insects taken on the wing. It includes leafhoppers, leaf bugs, flies, flying ants, and some wasps, bees, and beetles (Bent 1942). In Colorado, Baldwin (pers. comm.[7]) found that insects made up 99 percent of the stomach contents of six violet-green swallows. Flies were the most abundant insect found. Scolytid beetles, seed and leaf bugs, miscellaneous insects, and a few spiders were also found.