Birds
Swallow Tanager
Tersina viridis · also called swallow tanagers
Snatching an insect out of mid-air with a swallow-like swoop, a turquoise-blue male swallow tanager returns to a nesting burrow rather than the open cup nest most of its tanager relatives would build, a genuinely unusual combination of habits within its own family.
Overview
The swallow tanager, Tersina viridis, is a distinctive songbird native to rainforest and forest habitat across much of South America. Its unusual swallow-like insect-catching flight, burrow-based nesting behaviour, and striking colour difference between turquoise-blue males and green females make it one of the most behaviourally and visually atypical members of the tanager family found anywhere in South America.
A tanager that borrowed a swallow’s hunting style
Breaking from the more typical foraging habits of its tanager relatives, the swallow tanager instead snatches insects directly out of the air, a hunting style combined with equally unusual burrow-nesting habits that together make it one of the family’s more genuine outliers.
Status
Least Concern, remaining widespread across suitable rainforest and forest habitat throughout much of South America.
Swallow Tanager: common questions
Why is the swallow tanager named that?
This species catches insects in mid-flight in a manner resembling that of a swallow, an unusual hunting style among tanagers, most of which forage for insects on plants or vegetation rather than snatching them directly out of the air.
How does the swallow tanager nest differently from other tanagers?
This species nests in burrows or cavities rather than building the open cup nests typical of most other tanager species, a distinctive departure that sets it apart from the more typical nesting habits found across the broader tanager family.
How different do male and female swallow tanagers look?
A male of this species has brilliant turquoise-blue plumage combined with a black facial mask, while females instead have bright green plumage, a colour difference clear enough to make the sexes easy to tell apart at a glance.
Is the swallow tanager considered a typical tanager?
Not entirely; this species is considered distinctive enough within the tanager family that it is sometimes placed in its own separate subfamily, reflecting its unusual insect-catching flight style and burrow-nesting habits compared with more typical tanager species.