Little is known of the behaviour or breeding habitat of this martin, although like other swallows it feeds on insects caught in flight, and its wide bill suggests that it may take relatively large species.

The winter swallow roosts at the only known location of this martin have greatly reduced in numbers, and birds breeding at river habitats have declined throughout the region.

The white-eyed river martin is one of only two birds endemic to Thailand, and the country's government has noted this through the issues of a stamp and a high-value commemorative coin.

These two species possess a number of distinctive features which mark them out from other swallows and martins, including their robust legs and feet, and stout bills.

[4] The separation of this subfamily is supported by genetic evidence,[6] and their habit of nesting in burrows is thought to be characteristic of the earliest members of the swallow family.

[12] Following a suggestion by Kitti in his original paper,[8] Richard Brooke proposed in 1972 that the white-eyed river martin was sufficiently different from the African species to be placed in a separate monotypic genus Eurochelidon,[13] but this was contested by other authorities.

[16] The adult white-eyed river martin is a medium-sized swallow, 18 cm (7 in) long, with mainly silky black plumage and a white rump.

[4] The original Thai name for the Pseudochelidon, only known to local people in Bueng Boraphet, was นกตาพอง (nok ta phong) which may be roughly translated as "bird with enlarged eyes".

[18] The white-eyed river martin was discovered in 1968 by Kitti Thonglongya,[8] who obtained nine specimens netted by professional bird-hunters as part of a migratory bird survey at a night-time roost at Thailand's largest freshwater lake, Bueng Boraphet, in Nakhon Sawan Province.

[20] The species has only been seen at the lake, always between the months of November and February, and the wintering habitat is assumed to be in the vicinity of open fresh water for feeding, with reed beds for the night-time roost.

[4] However, distinct differences in foot and toe morphology from its African relative have led some authorities to speculate that even the assumption that it nests in burrows could be incorrect.

[26] Pamela C. Rasmussen suggested that, given its unusually large eyes, the species might be nocturnal or at least crepuscular,[1] a factor that could make it very inconspicuous, and thus partly explain how it remained undetected for so long.

[11] Other potential causes for the martin's decline include the disturbance of sand bars in the rivers, and the construction of dams (which flood the area upstream and change the water flow downstream), deforestation, and increasing conversion of its habitat to agriculture.

[29][30] Despite official protection, the martin was captured by locals along with other swallows for sale as food or for release by devout Buddhists, and following its discovery by ornithologists, trappers were reported to have caught as many as 120 individuals and sold them to the director of the Nakhon Sawan Fisheries Station who was unable to keep them alive in captivity.

[32] Despite the lack of records from China, a 2000 field guide covering the region included this species, since it is the mostly likely breeding area outside Thailand,[33] although it is omitted from the 2008 Birds of East Asia.