Grey-rumped Swift

Grey-rumped Swift
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Apodidae
Genus:	Chaetura
Species:	C. cinereiventris
Binomial name
Chaetura cinereiventris (Sclater, 1862)

The Grey-rumped Swift, Chaetura cinereiventris, is a small swift.

This species breeds in hill forests from Nicaragua south to Peru, Brazil and northern Argentina, and Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago. The nest is a half saucer of twigs glued to the inside of a tree hole, chimney or similar shaded location with saliva.

Grey-rumped Swift is 11.5 cm long and weighs 15 g. The upperparts are black with a grey triangular band across the rump, and the underparts are slate grey. It has a long black-grey tail.

Grey-rumped Swift feeds in flight on flying insects. It is often low over roads or clearings in the morning or evening, rising high above the forest, often with other swifts, in the middle of the day.

Grey-rumped Swift has a chittering call.

References

• BirdLife International (2004). Chaetura cinereiventris. 2006. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. www.iucnredlist.org. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern

• Swifts by Chantler and Driessens, ISBN 1-873403-83-6
• Birds of Venezuela by Hilty, ISBN 0-7136-6418-5
• ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.