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Grey-rumped Swift | Chaetura cinereiventris
Grijsstuitgierzwaluw | Vencejo lomigrís | Andorinhão-de-sobre-cinzento
The Grey-rumped Swift is a small, dark swift of the humid forests on both sides of the Andes. Small groups hunt with rapid, fluttering wingbeats over the canopy, along forest edges and over rivers, often with other swifts. Of the Chaetura swifts in the guide area it is one of the most widespread.
Voice
A repeated, clear tsip and a series of three or four slightly descending, rasping notes, trreeu-trreeu-trreeu; flocks give a rapid, chattering twitter in flight.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm, small, with a short, square tail whose shafts project as spines. Upperparts glossy blue-black, with a broad, pale grey rump and uppertail coverts that contrast sharply. Throat and underparts are grey, the throat slightly paler; the undertail coverts are darker. The sexes are alike; young birds are duller.
Confusion species
Band-rumped Swift Chaetura spinicaudus has a narrow, whitish band across the rump and darker underparts. Short-tailed Swift Chaetura brachyura is browner, with a very short tail and a pale rump and undertail that form one continuous pale area. Pale-rumped Swift Chaetura egregia is larger, with an even paler, whitish rump, and lives only in the Amazonian lowlands. Chapman's Swift Chaetura chapmani is larger and darker, with a rump that barely contrasts.
Habitat
Over humid lowland forest, foothill forest, secondary forest, forest edges and shaded plantations, from sea level to about 1500 m, locally higher. It hunts small flying insects, often fairly low over the canopy and over rivers. It nests in hollow trees and sometimes in chimneys or wells, with a half-cup of twigs glued to the inner wall with saliva.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the Pacific lowlands, in the foothills around the Magdalena Valley and east of the Andes in the Orinoco and Amazon lowlands. In Ecuador in the western lowlands and foothills and in the eastern lowlands and foothills. In Peru in the eastern lowlands and foothills. In Bolivia locally in the north-west. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Nicaragua to Panama, in Venezuela and Brazil to north-eastern Argentina, and on Trinidad, Tobago and Grenada.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Watch for groups of swifts over forest edges and rivers in the foothills of the eastern slope and in north-western Ecuador. View them from the side or against a forested slope, so that the grey rump and grey underparts can be seen.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a very large range and also uses secondary forest and farmland with trees; large-scale deforestation may reduce numbers locally.
Scientific name
Chaetura cinereiventris | Sclater, 1862
Sclater described the species in 1862 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Chaetura was introduced in 1826 by Stephens. The genus name comes from Greek khaitē, 'long hair, bristle', and oura, 'tail', after the spiny tips of the tail feathers. The species name cinereiventris comes from Latin cinereus, 'ash-grey', and venter, 'belly'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bahia, Brazil.