Chimney Swift

Chaetura pelagica

Order APODIFORMES - Family APODIDAE

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A "flying cigar," the Chimney Swift is rarely seen perched. Its high-pitched twittering is a familiar sound during summertime in the city as it flies high above, catching small flying insects.

Cool Facts

• Before European settlement of North America, the Chimney Swift probably nested in caves and hollow trees. The swift benefited greatly by the construction of chimneys and the increased availability of new nest sites. Recent changes in chimney design, with covered, narrow flues, have decreased the available nest sites and may be a factor in declining population numbers. For information about a Chimney Swift tower made specifically for nesting swifts, go to the North American Chimney Swift Nest Site Research Project.

• Chimney Swifts do not sit on perches like most birds, but instead use their long claws to cling to the walls of chimneys and other vertical surfaces.

• Swifts are among the most aerial of birds, flying almost constantly except when at the nest or roosting at night. The Chimney Swift bathes in flight, gliding down to water, smacking the surface with its breast, then bouncing up and shaking the water from its plumage as it flies away.

• The Chimney Swift is gregarious, with large numbers of swifts roosting together in a single chimney or air shaft during the nonbreeding season. Nonbreeding swifts will roost together in the summer too, and this behavior has fooled people into thinking that the Chimney Swift nests in colonies. In fact, only one pair nests in a single chimney. The pair may tolerate other swifts roosting in their chimney, though, further confusing people watching the swifts from the ground.

• The fast, erratic flight of the Chimney Swift is characteristic of small swifts. It gives the very distinct impression that the swift is beating only one wing at a time, alternating wings. Careful investigation has shown, though, that a swift beats both its wings at the same time just like all other birds. The illusion comes at least in part from the frequent banking and turning.

Description

• Size: 12-15 cm (5-6 in)
• Wingspan: 27-30 cm (11-12 in)
• Weight: 17-30 g (0.6-1.06 ounces)

• Small bird.
• Colored uniformly dark.
• Body cylindrical.
• Wings long, pointed, and swept back.

• Back sooty brown.
• Grayish brown below.
• Throat, chin, and cheeks paler.
• Tail very short with spiny tips.
• Wings held stiffly and beat rapidly, rather bat-like.
• Appears to beat each wing alternately.

Sex Differences

Sexes alike.

Immature

Like adult.

Similar Species

• Only swift commonly found in eastern North America.
• Swallows have gliding wingbeats, frequently perch on wires (swifts never do), and have noticeable tails.
• Vaux's Swift of West extremely similar, slightly smaller and with shorter wings, has paler rump and throat, and a sharper and less musical voice.

Sound

High-pitched musical chip notes strung together into a rapid twitter.

»listen to songs of this species

Range

Summer Range

Breeds east of the Rocky Mountains from very eastern Saskatchewan eastward to Atlantic Coast, and southward to central Texas and Gulf Coast. Small population in southern California.

Winter Range

Winters in Amazon Basin of South America.

Habitat

Nests in variety of habitats, especially common in urban areas. Forages over open areas.

Food

Flying insects.

Behavior

Foraging

Pursues flying insects and catches them in bill. Feeds in flocks or alone.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Nest a half saucer of woven small twigs held together with saliva. Glued with saliva to inside wall of chimney.

Egg Description

White.

Clutch Size

1-5 eggs.

Condition at Hatching

Naked and helpless.

Conservation Status

Populations probably much larger than before the development of eastern North America, as the Chimney Swift took advantage of chimneys for nesting. Declining throughout range; reasons unknown.

Other Names

Martinet ramoneur (French)
Vencejo de chimenea (Spanish)

Sources used to construct this page:

Cink, C. L., and C. T. Collins. 2002. Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica). In The Birds of North America, No. 646 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.