[2] The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text.

[3] Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Hirundo albiventer in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées.

[4] The white-winged swallow is now one of nine species placed in the genus Tachycineta that was introduced in 1850 by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis.

[8][10] The white-winged swallow is native to Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.

[8][9] The species is usually found in or near lowland areas along bodies of water such as rivers or lakes, at elevations of about 500 m (1,600 ft).

[10] The white-winged swallow builds a cup nest lined with other birds' feathers and some seed inside a tree hole,[12] between boulders or in man-made structures.

[8][9][10] The white-winged swallow feeds primarily in flight at a low altitude, catching flying insects.