Woodswallows: Artamidae - Physical Characteristics, Diet, Behavior And Reproduction, Dusky Woodswallow (artamus Cyanopterus): Species Account - GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, WOODSWALLOWS AND PEOPLE, CONSERVATION STATUS
Woodswallows are found in Australia and Tasmania, throughout the islands of the South Pacific region, Southeast Asia, and across south China to India and Sri Lanka.
This family lives in a wide variety of habitats including open forests, woodlands, scrublands, mangroves (groups of tropical evergreen trees located near tidal coasts), edges of forests, orchards, urban areas, and clearings. In fact, they prefer any habitat that contains plenty of insects.
People like to watch the highly visible but soft and modest colorations and daring aerial displays of woodswallows.
Woodswallows are not considered to be threatened. However, species with small habitats are sometimes hurt by adverse changes in their environment and by human development and activities within their habitats.
Additional Topics
Woodswallows are small, robust, mostly nomadic (wandering) birds. They have a stout body, soft plumage (feathers), brush-tipped tongue, short neck, short legs, weak-grasping feet, short toes, and a short, stumpy tail that is sometimes white-tipped. The bill is blue-gray, long, slightly curved, and sharply pointed with a bluish black tip. Wings are long, strong, and pointed (such that when flying t…
Woodswallows eat flying insects, caterpillars, grasshoppers, nectar (sweet liquid that flowering plants produce), and pollen (powdery substance produced by flowering plants that contains reproductive cells). The birds fly to areas that have plentiful insects to eat. They forage primarily by flying high and sweeping up flying insects but, also at times, by dropping from tree limbs to capture prey o…
Woodswallows are highly social and swiftly flying birds. When not foraging, they often are seen preening (grooming feathers with bill) each other and perching together, clustered together in large numbers on visible tree branches, wires, utility poles, and other such objects. Although clusters of more than 100 have been recorded, most numbers are in the range of fifteen to twenty. Most species rem…
Physical characteristics: Dusky woodswallows are medium-sized, swallow-like birds that have a smoky blue to smoky brown body; small patch of black in the front of the eyes; dark gray to blackish wings with a white leading edge; dark gray to blackish tail with distinctive white spots at the end; and silvery underwings. The bill is short and pale blue with a black tip. Adults are 6.7 to 7.1 inches (…
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