Birds of Panama

    APODIFORMES: Apodidae (Swifts)  
Genus: Chaetura (8 species, 11 worldwide)


Short-tailed Swift
Short-tailed Swift (Chaetura brachyura brachyura)
Mocagua, Amazonas, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Tom Friedel   © All Rights Reserved.

Small T-shaped swift with short buff-colored back end. Back and back of wings blue-black. Seen in groups of 1000. Descends to nest in hollow dead palms.

Chapman's Swift
Chapman's Swift (Chaetura chapmani)
Guyana  
   
Photograph by Dave Curtis     Copyright and usage info

A small brown swift with contrasting browns on top half (head and mantle darker). Compare to Vaux's Swift and Chimney Swift. Chapman's Swift as recently lumped with Amazonian Swift of the western Amazon basin.

Grey-rumped Swift
Grey-rumped Swift (Chaetura cinereiventris)
Inírida, Guainía, Colombia  
   
Photograph by Robert Lockett   © All Rights Reserved.

Uniformly grey from below with light grey rump, and darker on back. Note wing shape and square tail.

No Image
Costa Rican Swift (Chaetura fumosa)
   



Sick's Swift
Sick's Swift (Chaetura meridionalis)
Pousada Oikos (Josiél Briet), São Paulo, Brazil  
   
Photograph by Matt Grube   © All Rights Reserved.

Austral migrant from east central South America to north South America. Note uniform brown and short square tail.

Chimney Swift
Chimney Swift (Chaetura pelagica) Vulnerable
Texas, United States  
   
Photograph by Jim McCulloch     Copyright and usage info

A uniformly colored small swift which migrates from eastern North America, passing quickly through Central America, to South America. Vaux's Swift is similar, but has a paler throat and rump, and stops its migration in Central America.

Band-rumped Swift
Band-rumped Swift (Chaetura spinicaudus spinicaudus)
Manuas, Brazil  
   
Photograph by Cameron Rutt   © All Rights Reserved.


Vaux's Swift
Vaux's Swift (Chaetura vauxi)
Sunnyvale, California,  
   
Photograph by Julio Mulero     Copyright and usage info

Northern migrant. Migrates from northwest United States and southwest Canada to Central America and the northernmost parts of South America. Similar to Chimney Swift, but note pale throat and rump.


© Tom Friedel - All Rights Reserved, except for images and data otherwise noted.       Colombia       Panama       Ecuador       Costa Rica       Mexico
Experimental sites:       Peru       Venezuela       The World       Brazil       Bolivia
Really Experimental sites:       Guyana       Cuba