Northern Rough-winged Swallow

How to find it

Look over open country, especially near streams and rivers. Boat trips on rivers and lagoons are worth the effort. Check wires, posts and bare branches where it perches between flights. Scan mixed swallow flocks for a plain brown bird with a dingy throat. Look for a pale throat and a dark rump to separate it from the Southern Rough-winged Swallow. Resident and migrant birds usually cannot be told apart in the field.

How to recognise it

This is a plain brown swallow. Learn these marks:

Throat: dusky, brownish-grey, fading into white underparts.

Breast: no clear band.

Bill: small.

Tail: forked.

In the field, a pale throat (at most buff, never cinnamon) and a dark rump help separate it from the Southern Rough-winged Swallow. Resident birds often have a throat tinted buff, which is less common in migrants. Juveniles have a dull cinnamon to buffy throat and chest, with broad cinnamon-brown edges on the upperpart feathers.

The name comes from tiny hooks on the outer edge of the outer wing feathers. You can only see them with the bird in the hand or under magnification, so do not expect them from the trail.

What it sounds like

Recording: Laura Mae, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

It is an aerial feeder that flies low over fields and gullies. It feeds over water more than most swallows and sometimes picks floating insects off the surface. You will usually find it alone or in small groups, and it often sits on wires, posts or bare branches between flights. It sometimes joins mixed flocks with other swallows.

It nests in burrows and crevices, often old ones made by other animals.

Where it lives

It likes open ground near water, such as river banks, lakes and bluffs. In Costa Rica it has been recorded as high as about 2,500 m above sea level.

Resident birds are common breeders in the northern mountain ranges and central highlands, roughly 300 to 1,850 m. Winter birds reach up to about 1,500 m in the north and centre. Outside the breeding season some residents spread down into the lowlands, where birds are locally common on both slopes.

When to see it

Northern migrants pass through in autumn (early September to late October) and spring (early March to early May), mostly along both coasts. Birds are locally common in the lowlands of both slopes from about September to February, and resident birds breed from April to May.

Similar birds

The Southern Rough-winged Swallow also occurs in Costa Rica and current lists treat it as a separate species. It has a brighter tawny throat and a paler rump, while the northern bird has a longer wing, a slightly longer tail and a smaller bill. Bank Swallow is smaller, with a clean white throat and a contrasting dark band across the chest.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Spanish name used in Costa Rica is Golondrina Alirrasposa Norteña. Regional lists also give Golondrina Ala Aserrada, and Cuban lists give Golondrina Parda.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as both resident and migrant (R,M), and the IUCN rates the species Least Concern.

Photography tips

Perches on wires, posts and bare branches between flights give the best chance for a still bird. Boat trips on rivers and lagoons have produced photos of it.