
Violet-green Swallow photos by Bob Sheldon
To celebrate my wife’s birthday we had a half a dozen Violet-green Swallows fly over our house on March 1st! These incredibly beautiful, acrobatic birds are a pleasure to watch. Just watching their aerobatics will relieve stress, kinda like watching fish in an aquarium only WAY better.
These streamlined birds have short, flat bills and wide mouthes. They have long pointed wings and small weak feet. They can be seen putting on acrobatic displays over open country and bodies of water spending most of their time in flight catching insects, their principal diet. Swallows are very gregarious birds, migrating in large flocks by day you may see them perched on wires along the roadside.
The main features that distinguish the Violet-green Swallow from the Tree Swallow are the white patches that almost meet over the base of the tail and the white on their face partially encircles the eye. The male is velvety green with violet above and is clear white below. The female is a little duller in color, grayish on the sides of the head and the forehead.
One of the cool things about Violet-green Swallows is that they will nest in man made nest boxes or birdhouses.
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