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UrbanCavity nestSmall · 24 g
What the Chimney Swift sounds like
ID tip
This is a medium-sized swift, measuring from 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in) in length, with a wingspan of 27 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in) and a weight ranging from 17 to 30 g (0.60 to 1.06 oz). The sexes are identical in plumage, though males average slightly heavier than females. The adult's plumage is a dark sooty olive above and grayish brown below, with a slightly paler rump and uppertail covert feathers, and a significantly paler throat. Its upperparts are the most uniformly colored of all the Chaetura swifts, showing little contrast between back and rump. Voice: The chimney swift has a twittering call, consisting of a rapid series of hard, high-pitched chirps. It sometimes gives single chirps.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
When to see the Chimney Swift
One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 7 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is May, the month with the most records.
Where to see the Chimney Swift
The map shades 25 countries with regular records, and 9 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.
Recorded as a rare visitor in Sweden, United Kingdom, Taiwan, Ireland, Spain, Curaçao, Guadeloupe, France, Brazil.
About the Chimney Swift
The chimney swift is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both Vaux's swift and Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching on flat surfaces, and can only perch on vertical surfaces. Many fly around all day and only come down at night when roosting.
Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Vaux's SwiftChaetura vauxiThis is a small swift, even compared to other Chaetura species, at 10.7 to 11.2 cm (4.2 to 4.4 in) long and weighing 18 g (0.63 oz).
Grey-rumped SwiftChaetura cinereiventrisThe grey-rumped swift is about 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long and weighs about 17 g (0.60 oz).
Sick's SwiftChaetura meridionalisThe upperparts dark smoky brown.
Side by side: Chimney Swift vs Vaux's Swift · Chimney Swift vs Grey-rumped Swift · Chimney Swift vs Sick's Swift
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