White-banded swallow

Atticora fasciata

Photo by Josef Widmer (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
white-banded swallow (en); peitoril (pt); hirondelle à ceinture blanche (fr); golondrina fajiblanca (es); weißbandschwalbe (de)

Taxonomy:Order Passeriformes
Family Hirundinidae

Range:
This species is found from southern Colombia, southern and eastern Venezuelas and the Guyanas south through eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru and northern Brazil and into northern Bolivia and as far south in Brazil as Mato Grosso and Maranhão. They are only present east of the Andes.


Size:
These birds are 14,5-16 cm long and weigh 12-16 g.

Habitat:
The white-banded swallow is mostly found in rivers and lakes bordered by rainforests, using both white water and black water rivers. They also rocky outcrops, waterfalls along large rivers and second growths. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 1.000 m.

Diet:
They hunt insects on the wing, taking varous flying insects such as bees, wasps, beetles, flying ants, bugs and flies.

Breeding:
White-banded swallows breed in September-March. They can breed in solitary pairs or in loose groups, and nest in burrows that are not excavated by themselves, lining the nest chamber with grass. The female lays 4-5 white eggs. There is no available information on the incubation and fledgling periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common but patchily distributedthe white-banded sallow is suspected to lose 13-14% of suitable habitat within its range over the next decade based on a model of Amazonian deforestation, so it is suspected to suffer a small decline in the near future.