Birds of the Upper Cumberland Region: Species Accounts

Tree Swallow (Tachycineta bicolor)

Abundance: Uncommon to Fairly Common during spring, summer, and fall; Occasional during winter; recorded in all Regional counties (Map of UCR Distribution); data from the Regional bird-monitoring efforts reveal a strongly positive trend in the population breeding in the Region since the early 1990s (see also Regional Bird-Monitoring Plan).

Status: Summer Resident; Visitor during winter; photograph (Carol D. Williams; near Hurricane Bridge on Rt. 56, DeKalb County, Tennessee; summer 2003).

Regional High Count: 1400 (8 October 2008; Adair County, Kentucky; Roseanna M. Denton); FBC/FBB High Count: 397 (26 September 2009; Clay County, Tennessee [FBB]; m. ob.); SBC/SBB High Count: 110 (2 May 2009; Cumberland County, Tennessee [SBC]; m. ob.).

Out-of-Season (Winter) Records:

2–3 December 1988 (1) Boring Pond, Cookeville, Putnam County, Tennessee (Stephen J. Stedman; Stedman 1993).

Regional Extreme Dates:

    Early Spring: x (

    Late Fall: x (

    Note: Spring arrival usually widespread by 20 March; fall departure largely complete by 31 October.  Regional dates of earliest reported spring arrival and latest reported fall departure for the years 2002–2011 follow:

Breeding: Confirmed (Recent). 

Habitat: x

YardWatch Results 2003 and 2004: Registered on 4 (of 125 possible) monthly check-lists during 2003 and on 22 registered (of 206 possible) check-lists during 2004, leading to YardWatch frequency classifications of Rare and Uncommon, respectively; the former frequency classification reveals a considerably lesser likelihood of encountering this swallow in Regional yards and neighborhoods than across the Region as a whole, but the latter frequency classification is fairly consistent with the overall Regional abundance classification.

Foray Results: A summary of data from UCR Forays follows (to view a map displaying foray data for a county or a sub-Region for this species, click on the name of an underlined county or state below):

* Because some foray blocks fall into two or three counties, the total of blocks in the Kentucky or Tennessee portions of the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the counties of each portion of the Region; similarly, because some blocks fall into both states, the total of blocks for the Region is less than the sum of the blocks in the two states.

Remarks: The earliest arriving Tree Swallows each spring, usually adult males scouting out nest locations, often arrive a full month before the species becomes widespread in the Region.

    Large flocks often muster during mid- to late October on the Region's big lakes, making the Tree Swallow the latest swallow to muster Regionally.

    During the 1985–1991 Breeding Bird Atlas project in Kentucky, the Tree Swallow was recorded in just one block (in Pulaski County) of 72 priority blocks in the Kentucky portion of the Region, and it was not reported in any other block as a miscellaneous species (Palmer-Ball 1996)l; during the 1986–1991 Breeding Bird Atlas project in Tennessee, it was recorded in just two blocks—one in Cumberland County and one straddling the Fentress-Morgan County line—in the Tennessee portion of the Region where at least 354 blocks had some coverage; however, pre-1986 records of confirmed breeding were also obtained in Smith and Warren counties, Tennessee (Nicholson 1997).  Much clearly changed in the distribution and abundance of breeding Tree Swallows Regionally from the period of the atlas work to the period of the UCR Foray work. Tree Swallows were recorded in 161 blocks in the 10 counties of the Kentucky portion of the Region during forays there, and they were recorded in 288 blocks in the 16 counties of the Tennessee portion of the Region during forays there.

Check-lists of Birds for the Counties of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of each county of the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed by clicking on the links below. For each county, there are two check-lists: one list that shows the species that have been observed and where possible documented in the county within the larger list for the entire Region; and one list that includes only the species observed in the county with annotations for the date and observers for at least one sighting (the ultimate goal of the latter list will be to include annotations for the very first known Regional observation of each species in that county; this goal is probably one that will take many years to complete, if completion is even a possibility). To see if the species discussed in this species account has been observed in a county, click below or click on the link for the Map of UCR Distribution near the top of the page.

Check-lists of Birds for Some Public Access Birding Sites of the UCR

Check-lists of the birds of some public access birding sites within the Upper Cumberland Region may be viewed via the links below. To see if the species dealt with in this species account has been observed within any of these sites, click on the appropriate link below. See the pages for each county within the Gazetteer for links to additional smaller public access birding sites with check-lists in progress.

Literature Cited