About Notiochelidon murina (Cassin, 1853)
The brown-bellied swallow, scientifically named Notiochelidon murina (Cassin, 1853), is approximately 14 cm (5.5 in) long and weighs around 12.5 g (0.44 oz). Both sexes share similar plumage patterns, though females are generally duller than males. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have mostly blackish heads and necks with a blue-green gloss, and a sooty gray-brown throat. Their upperparts are also blackish with a blue-green gloss. Their tail is moderately forked; both the tail and wings are dark brown. Most of their underparts are sooty gray-brown, with black undertail coverts. Juveniles are duller than adults, with a brown throat, gray-white underparts, and a shorter tail.
Subspecies N. m. meridensis has bluer upperparts than the nominate subspecies. Males of this subspecies have dark metallic blue tips on their undertail coverts, while females have brown tips on their undertail coverts. Subspecies N. m. cyanodorsalis has a steel-blue gloss on its upperparts and black undertail coverts.
The brown-bellied swallow has a disjunct distribution, and N. m. meridensis is the northernmost of its three subspecies. It occurs in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia, in the Serranía del Perijá along the Colombia-Venezuela border, and from Trujillo in western Venezuela south through Colombia's Eastern Andes to Boyacá Department. The nominate subspecies ranges from Antioquia Department in northwestern Colombia south through Ecuador to south-central Peru. N. m. cyanodorsalis is found from Puno Department in southeastern Peru south to central Bolivia.
This species is an Andean bird that lives in open to semi-open landscapes, including grasslands, shrublands, elfin forest, Polylepis woodlands, farmland, and areas surrounding human houses. It is often found near water. Documented elevational ranges vary across countries: between 2,200 and 3,000 m (7,200 and 9,800 ft) in Venezuela, with unconfirmed sightings recorded both lower and higher; between 2,000 and 3,600 m (6,600 and 11,800 ft) in Colombia; mostly between 2,500 and 4,000 m (8,200 and 13,100 ft) in Ecuador; and between 2,200 and 4,300 m (7,200 and 14,100 ft) in Peru.
