Uncommon to fairly common but sometimes local in the high Andes. Favors open country, such as rocky slopes, puna grasslands, bogs, and sometimes around villages and towns. Usually in pairs or small groups flying fast and often rather low; sometimes associates with Blue-and-white Swallows. Distinctive but rather nondescript: dark above and whitish below with a cleft tail, dusky throat, and vaguely brownish rump. Note that the undertail coverts are whitish on Andean, but dark on Blue-and-White Swallows.