Violet-green swallow
Tachycineta thalassina (Swainson, 1827)
The violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) is a species in the family Hirundinidae, order Passeriformes. Recorded adults weigh 13.9 g to 14.4 g and live up to 6.8 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.
Quick facts about the violet-green swallow
- Weight
- 13.9 g – 14.4 gsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Wingspan
- 27.1 cmsrc for Wingspan
- Lifespan
- 6.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Invertivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 9.08 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Egg incubation
- 13.8 dayssrc for Egg incubation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 4.5 – 4.9src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 11.9 monthssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 1src for Litters or clutches a year
- Lifestyle
- Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the violet-green swallow?
Where does the violet-green swallow live?
Not recorded
What is the violet-green swallow?
The violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) is a small North American passerine bird in the swallow family. These aerial insectivores are distributed along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico, extending as far east as Montana and Texas. With an appearance very similar to the tree swallow, these individuals can be identified by the white rump side-patches that appear to separate their green back and purple tail. Violet-green swallows are secondary cavity nesters, found in a number of habitats including deciduous and coniferous forest. In addition to nesting in tree holes within these habitats, they are also widely observed nesting in the cracks of large cliffs.
From the Wikipedia article “Violet-green swallow” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Violet-green_swallow&oldid=1380710919), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
What does the violet-green swallow sound like?
Is the violet-green swallow endangered?
The violet-green swallow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.
How is the violet-green swallow classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classAves
- orderPasseriformes
- familyHirundinidae
- genusTachycineta
- SpeciesTachycineta thalassina (Swainson, 1827)
Synonyms Hirundo thalassinus
Other names and names in other languages (37)
- سنونو البنفسجي والأخضرArabic
- Виолетово-зелена дървесна лястовицаBulgarian
- oreneta carablancaCatalan
- vlaštovka zelenáCzech
- gwennol werddWelsh
- SmaragdsvaleDanish
- VeilchenschwalbeGerman
- violverda hirundoEsperanto
- Golondrina verdemarSpanish
- Golondrina VerdivioláceaSpanish
- rohepääsukeEstonian
- پرستوی بنفش و سبزPersian
- viherpääskyFinnish
- Hirondelle à face blancheFrench
- zelenoleđi piljakCroatian
- Karolinai fecskeHungarian
- Rondine verdeviolaItalian
- スミレミドリツバメJapanese
- spalvingoji amerikinė kregždėLithuanian
- greznā bezdelīgaLatvian
- Táshchozhii binághah chʼilgo dootłʼizhígííNavajo
- Groene ZwaluwDutch
- talassinsvaleNorwegian
- nadobniczka białoskrzydłaPolish
- andorinha-lustrosaPortuguese
- Andorinha-verde-e-roxaPortuguese
- andorinha-verde-violetaPortuguese
- Фиолетово-зелёная ласточкаRussian
- Фиолетово-зелёная американская ласточкаRussian
- lastovička smaragdováSlovak
- Ljubičasto-zelena lastaSerbian
- violettgrön svalaSwedish
- Yeşil-Mor KırlangıçTurkish
- білозорка фіолетоваUkrainian
- Nhạn xanh tímVietnamese
- 紫綠樹燕Chinese
- 紫绿树燕Chinese
Relatives of the violet-green swallow
Other species in the same genus Tachycineta.
Tree swallow
Tachycineta bicolor
Mangrove swallow
Tachycineta albilinea
White-winged swallow
Tachycineta albiventer
Bahama swallow
Tachycineta cyaneoviridis
Golden swallow
Tachycineta euchrysea
White-rumped swallow
Tachycineta leucorrhoa
CompareViolet-green swallow vs Tree swallowViolet-green swallow vs Mangrove swallowViolet-green swallow vs White-winged swallowViolet-green swallow vs Bahama swallow
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
How big is the violet-green swallow?
An adult violet-green swallow weighs 13.9 g – 14.4 g and has a wingspan of 27.1 cm, according to values recorded on Wikidata.
Is the violet-green swallow endangered?
The violet-green swallow is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.
How long does the violet-green swallow live?
The violet-green swallow has a recorded lifespan of 6.8 years.
What kind of animal is the violet-green swallow?
The violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina) belongs to the family Hirundinidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/violet-green-swallow
“Violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/violet-green-swallow.
@misc{violet_green_swallow_2026,
title = {Violet-green swallow (Tachycineta thalassina)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/violet-green-swallow},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}