How do you identify a Costa Rican Swift?

The Costa Rican swift is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long. Full identification notes are on this page.

How big is a Costa Rican Swift?

The Costa Rican Swift is a small sized bird weighing about 16 g.

Where can you see a Costa Rican Swift?

The Costa Rican Swift occurs in 2 countries, including Costa Rica and Panama.

What birds look similar to a Costa Rican Swift?

The Costa Rican Swift is most easily confused with the Pale-rumped Swift, the Chapman's Swift and the Lesser Antillean Swift.

Is the Costa Rican Swift endangered?

The Costa Rican Swift is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Costa Rican Swift

Chaetura fumosa

Swifts · Apodiformes · Rare

The Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa) is a rare swift found in 2 countries, weighing about 16 g. The Costa Rican swift is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae.

Least ConcernRareEats invertebratesforest16 g

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 1 — Photo: Adam Jackson · http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 2 — Photo: Adam Jackson · http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 3 — Photo: Adam Jackson · http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 4 — Photo: er-birds · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 5 — Photo: Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 6 — Photo: Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová · http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 7 — Photo: (c) Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 8 — Photo: no rights reserved · CC0

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 9 — Photo: (c) er-birds, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa), photo 10 — Photo: no rights reserved · CC0

About the Costa Rican Swift

The Costa Rican swift is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How to identify it

The Costa Rican swift is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long. The sexes are alike. Their head is dusky. Their upperparts are mostly sooty black with a blue gloss and a pale grayish rump and dull black uppertail coverts. Their throat and breast are pale grayish. Voice: The Costa Rican swift makes "high-pitched calls such as single 'weet', 'tsew' or 'tsee' notes" and usually combines them with "longer twittering series such as 'titititititititi' or 'titititrrrr'."

Where it lives

Costa Rica Panama

When to see it

Best months: January, February, March, April, May, July, August, October, November, December, with peak activity in March. It is a variable species across most of its range.

Easily confused with

Quick questions

How do you identify a Costa Rican Swift?: The Costa Rican swift is about 11 cm (4.3 in) long. Full identification notes are on this page.
How big is a Costa Rican Swift?: The Costa Rican Swift is a small sized bird weighing about 16 g.
Where can you see a Costa Rican Swift?: The Costa Rican Swift occurs in 2 countries, including Costa Rica and Panama.
What birds look similar to a Costa Rican Swift?: The Costa Rican Swift is most easily confused with the Pale-rumped Swift, the Chapman's Swift and the Lesser Antillean Swift.
Is the Costa Rican Swift endangered?: The Costa Rican Swift is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Learn the Costa Rican Swift for real

BeakBrain drills you on photos and calls until you can greet this bird by name in the field. Free to play, on any device.

Play BeakBrain

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