Species: Cypseloides niger

Black Swift
Species
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Aves

    Order

    Apodiformes

    Family

    Apodidae

    Genus

    Cypseloides

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Vencejo Negro - martinet sombre
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Apodiformes - Apodidae - Cypseloides - (both of South America) by some authors (AOU 1998).
    Short General Description
    Black Swift; a small, black, aerial-feeding bird.
    Migration
    false - false - true - Breeding populations in U.S. and Canada make long migrations to winter range.
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Feeds on insects (e.g., flying ants, caddisflies, mayflies, beetles, flesh flies, hymenopterans). Catches insects in the air, often at great heights. Often forages with other swifts at leading edges of rainstorms (Costa Rica, Stiles and Skutch 1989).
    Reproduction Comments
    One egg is laid in June-July. Nestling is altricial. Young fledges in 45 days. Nests in small colonies.
    Length
    18
    Weight
    46
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G4
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-12-02
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-12-02
    Other Status

    LC - Least concern

    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S1&CA.BC=S4&US.AK=__&US.CA=S2&US.CO=S3&US.ID=S1&US.MT=S1&US.NM=S2&US.OR=S2&US.UT=S1&US.WA=S3&US.WY=SH" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDS: locally from southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, and southwestern Alberta south through the Pacific states to southern California; northwestern Montana, Colorado, Utah, northern New Mexico (Johnson 1990), and southeastern Arizona (Knorr and Knorr 1990); locally in highlands from Nayarit, Puebla, and Veracruz south to Guatemala, Honduras, and Costa Rica; locally in the West Indies in Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent (Sibley and Monroe 1990). WINTER RANGE is poorly known; northern populations may winter in South America, and the supposedly resident populations in Middle America and the Antilles may in fact also winter in South America, though direct evidence is lacking (Stiles and Negret 1994).
    Global Range Code
    H
    Global Range Description
    >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101434