Bird Guide

Grey-rumped Swift vs Sick's Swift

Grey-rumped Swift (Chaetura cinereiventris)

Grey-rumped Swift

Chaetura cinereiventris

Tiny14 gForest

The grey-rumped swift is about 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long and weighs about 17 g (0.60 oz). It has a protruding head, a short square tail, and wings that bulge in the middle and somewhat hook at the end. The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have mostly glossy black upperparts with a wide gray rump and uppertail coverts. Their underparts are a lighter gray than the rump, though darker on the undertail coverts. Juveniles are essentially the same as adults with the addition of pale fringes to many of the wing feathers. Subspecies C. c. Voice: The principal vocalizations of the grey-rumped swift's nominate subspecies are "a bright repeated short 'tsip'" and a "series of 3–4 slightly downslurred burry drawn-out notes 'trrreeew-trrreeew-trrreeew'." The other subspecies' vocalizations vary but are similar to them.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Grey-rumped Swift
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Pichincha: Río Guaycuyacu, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: er-birds · CC BY 4.0
Sick's Swift (Chaetura meridionalis)

Sick's Swift

Chaetura meridionalis

Small22 gForest

The upperparts dark smoky brown. The tail is ashy grey with dark shafts and protruding spines, The throat is grey, lower underparts dark brown, bill and legs black.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Ron Knight from Seaford, East Sussex, United Kingdom · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Grey-rumped Swift and Sick's Swift.