Some Sand Martins spotted in the sand on the bank of a river. Favouring such places brought about another common designation for these birds, used mainly in North America, i.e. Bank Swallows.

Adults are brown above and white below, with a somewhat fainter brown band on the breast, while the legs are brown and the bill is black.

It lives near bodies of water and rivers, where it feeds on small insects, mostly flies whose early stages are aquatic.

It breeds in colonies, typically nesting in burrows bored in the sand on a river bank.