Species: Chaetura vauxi
Vaux's Swift
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
A 12-cm-long bird with long narrow wings, a small cigar-shaped body, and a short stubby tail; plumage is dark blackish, with a whitish throat.
Source: Encyclopedia of Life
Articles:
This article was originally published by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife as part of its annual report Threatened and Endangered Wildlife in Washington.
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Apodiformes
Family
Apodidae
Genus
Chaetura
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Martinet de Vaux - Vencejo de Vaux
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Apodiformes - Apodidae - Chaetura - May constitute a superspecies with C. PELAGICA and C. CHAPMANI (AOU 1998). Populations in southern Mexico and in Yucatan Peninsula (and on Cozumel Island) formerly were treated as two separate species: C. RICHMONDI and C. GAUMERI (AOU 1983).
Ecology and Life History
A 12-cm-long bird with long narrow wings, a small cigar-shaped body, and a short stubby tail; plumage is dark blackish, with a whitish throat.
Source: Encyclopedia of Life
Short General Description
A small bird with long narrow wings.
Migration
true - true - true - In Oregon, some left their nesting areas in late August and early September and were found at large communal roosts sheltering more than 500 swifts; these large roosts were used until mid-September when swifts left the study area (Bull and Blumton 1997).
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Feeds on small flying insects; catches insects in the air. Feeds in long, continuous foraging flights high over varied habitats; also at lower levels over forest openings, burns, rivers and lakes (Grinnell and Miller 1944). In Oregon, foraged up to 5.4 km from the nest but mostly near the nest stand (Bull and Beckwith 1993). Often joins other swifts in feeding at edges of rainstorms (Stiles and Skutch 1989; Campbell et al. 1990). Feeds on leafhoppers, true flies; see Bull and Beckwith (1993) for extensive information on diet in Oregon.
Reproduction Comments
Nests singly or in small colony. Clutch size is 3-7 (usually 4-7). Incubation lasts 18-20 days (Stiles and Skutch 1989; Baicich and Harrison 1997). Young leave nest after 20-21 days; will perch on interior wall the nest is built on, but may not fly freely for up to another 7 days (Baldwin and Zaczkowski 1963). At least some birds nest at one year of age (Bull and Collins 1996). Will return to same nest site (Baldwin and Zaczkowski 1963; Bull and Collins 1996). In an Oregon study, 70% of 46 nest trees were re-used in subsequent years, and nest site fidelity was also high, with 14 of 15 marked birds recaptured at the same nest tree (Bull and Collins 1996).
Ecology Comments
Forages and migrates during day. May enter torpor in periods of cold weather (Terres 1980). Number of birds at two tree roosts monitored in northeastern Oregon ranged from 9 to 479, with highest counts in spring (Bull 1991). During migration can gather in very large roosting flocks; up to 40,000 regularly roost in one large chimney in Portland (Eshbaugh 2000), and other large chimney roosts occur in a variety of Oregon cities (Bull 2000) and in Los Angeles, California.
Length
12
Weight
17
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-12-02
Global Status Last Changed
1996-12-02
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
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Global Range
FG - 20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles) - FG - BREEDING: southeastern Alaska, southern British Columbia, northern Idaho, and western Montana south to central California (migratory populations); also southwestern Tamaulipas and southeastern San Luis Potosi, Yucatan Peninsula, western Mexico south to Panama, and in northern Venezuela (resident populations) (AOU 1983, Bull and Collins 1993, Rappole 1995). NON-BREEDING: central Mexico south through breeding range in Middle America and Venezuela; casual in California, southern Louisiana, and western Florida (AOU 1983, Bull and Collins 1993).
Global Range Code
FG
Global Range Description
20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)