Southern rough-winged swallow

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Southern rough-winged swallow
S. r. ruficollis
The Pantanal, Brazil
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Hirundinidae
Genus: Stelgidopteryx
Species:
S. ruficollis
Binomial name
Stelgidopteryx ruficollis
(Vieillot, 1817)

The southern rough-winged swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis) is a small swallow. It was first formally described as Hirundo ruficollis by French ornithologist Louis Vieillot in 1817 in his Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle.[2]

Morphology[edit]

The adult is 13.5 cm (5.3 in) in length and weighs 15 g (0.53 oz). It is brown above, with blackish wings and tail and a pale grey rump. The throat and upper breast are rufous with the lower underparts yellowish-white. The tail is slightly forked. It is similar in appearance to its northern counterpart, the northern rough-winged swallow, but is more uniform in color, particularly on the rump.[3]

"Rough-winged" refers to the serrated edge of the outer primary feathers on the wing of this bird; this feature would only be apparent when holding this bird.

Distribution[edit]

It occurs in Central and South America from Honduras south to northern Argentina and Uruguay. It also occurs on Trinidad. Southern birds of the nominate race S. r. ruficollis, are migratory, moving north in winter, but the northern S. r. aequalis is sedentary.[4]

Ecology[edit]

It is found in open areas and forest clearings. It nests in grass-lined cavities of various types, including holes in banks or walls, or disused kingfisher and jacamar nests. It does not form colonies. The clutch is 3–6 white eggs, incubated by the female for 16–18 days and with another 13 days to fledging. Southern rough-winged swallows forage for insects (such as plant bugs, beetles, flies, flying ants and heteropterans)[5] in flight, usually flying low with a slow deliberate flight. The call is an unmusical chirrup.[3]

References[edit]

  1. ^ BirdLife International. (2020). Stelgidopteryx ruficollis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T22712162A137675816. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22712162A137675816.en
  2. ^ Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1817). Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle, nouvelle édition [New Dictionary of Natural History, new edition] (in French). Vol. 14. p. 523. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.20211. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b Southern rough-winged swallow species account at Neotropical Birds (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) Alternate Link Archived 2022-01-13 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Turner, Angela K.; Rose, Chris (1989). Swallows and Martins of the World: an identification guide and handbook. Houghton Mifflin. pp. 91–93. ISBN 0-395-51174-7.
  5. ^ https://sta.uwi.edu/fst/lifesciences/sites/default/files/lifesciences/documents/ogatt/Stelgidopteryx_ruficollis%20-%20Southern%20Rough-winged%20Swallow.pdf Archived 2022-08-09 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF]

Further reading[edit]

  • Skutch, Alexander F. (1960). "Rough-winged swallow" (PDF). Life Histories of Central American Birds II. Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 34. Berkeley, California: Cooper Ornithological Society. pp. 265–274. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-01-31. Retrieved 2020-12-13.

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stelgidopteryx ruficollis.
Wikispecies has information related to Stelgidopteryx ruficollis.
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