Sick's Swift

ID tip

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Sick's Swift

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 8 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Sick's Swift

The map shades 5 countries with regular records, and 2 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 French Guiana, Suriname.

About the Sick's Swift

Sick's swift is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It was previously considered conspecific with the smaller ashy-tailed swift, but a study published in 1997 found that Sick's swift was closer to the chimney swift. The English name commemorates the German-born ornithologist Helmut Sick who studied South American birds. It is a migratory species that breeds in central South America and overwinters in northern South America. The IUCN has listed it as being of "Least Concern".

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

Easily confused with

Short-tailed SwiftChaetura brachyuraThe short-tailed swift is about 10.5 cm long, and weighs 20 g. Grey-rumped SwiftChaetura cinereiventrisThe grey-rumped swift is about 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long and weighs about 17 g (0.60 oz). Band-rumped SwiftChaetura spinicaudusThe band-rumped swift is 10.5 to 12.6 cm (4.1 to 5.0 in) long and weighs 13.8 to 18.5 g (0.49 to 0.65 oz).

Side by side: Chimney Swift vs Sick's Swift · Sick's Swift vs Vaux's Swift · Grey-rumped Swift vs Sick's Swift · Short-tailed Swift vs Sick's Swift · Band-rumped Swift vs Sick's Swift