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Southern rough-winged swallow
S. r. ruficollis The Pantanal, Brazil
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific 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.

Morphology

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.

"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

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.

Ecology

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) in flight, usually flying low with a slow deliberate flight. The call is an unmusical chirrup.

References

1. BirdLife International. (2020). "Stelgidopteryx ruficollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22712162A137675816. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22712162A137675816.en. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
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. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
3. ^ Turner, Angela (4 March 2020). "Southern Rough-winged Swallow | Stelgidopteryx ruficollis". Birds of the World. 1.0. doi:10.2173/bow.srwswa1.01.
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. "Stelgidopteryx ruficollis (Southern Rough-winged Swallow)" (PDF). The Online Guide to the Animals of Trinidad and Tobago. UWI.

Further reading

• Skutch, Alexander F. (1960). "Rough-winged swallow". Life Histories of Central American Birds II (PDF). Pacific Coast Avifauna, Number 34. Berkeley, California: Cooper Ornithological Society. pp. 266–274. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-03-10. Retrieved 2020-12-13.

External links

• "Southern rough-winged swallow media". Internet Bird Collection.
• Southern rough-winged swallow photo gallery at VIREO (Drexel University)
• Interactive range map of Stelgidopteryx ruficollis at IUCN Red List maps
• Audio recordings of Southern rough-winged swallow on Xeno-canto.

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Stelgidopteryx
• Birds of Costa Rica
• Birds of Honduras
• Birds of Nicaragua
• Birds of Panama
• Birds of South America
• Birds of the Guiana Shield
• Birds of the Amazon rainforest
• Birds of Trinidad and Tobago
• Birds of islands of the Atlantic Ocean
• Birds described in 1817
• Taxa named by Louis Pierre Vieillot