Northern Rough-winged Swallow
| Stelgidopteryx serripennis | Order: Passeriformes | Family: Hirundinidae (Swallows) |
This softly-colored but attractive little swallow happens to be the very first swallow Laura ever identified, near the Water Lab where her husband Russ did some of his work on the Michigan State campus. Much tinier and more delicate than the superficially similar female Purple Martin, the soft brown back, entirely lacking any iridescence, could be confused only with the Bank Swallow, whose white throat and upper breast band, like the slot of a piggy bank, make it unmistakeable.
Northern Rough-winged Swallows are more solitary nesters than most swallows, though they may gather in small or large groups during migration. They breed in just about the entire Lower-48 and a bit of southern Canada, and winter in Mexico, Central America, and along our own Gulf Coast.
Rough-winged Swallows take their name from the sharply serrated edge of their outer primary wing feather. If you zoom on the photo here, you may be able to see it along the edge where the very long flight feather meets the white undertail feathers.