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Band-rumped Swift | Chaetura spinicaudus
Witbandgierzwaluw | Vencejo lomibandeado
The Band-rumped Swift is a small, dark swift of the lowland forests of central and eastern Panama. It hunts over the forest in loose groups, often together with the Short-tailed Swift and other small swifts. The narrow, sharply defined pale band across the rump, which gives the species its name, is the key feature. The birds of south-western Costa Rica and western Panama are now treated as a separate species, the Costa Rican Swift.
Voice
A dry, rapid twittering of short notes, and a high, buzzy tsee-tsee or psee-trr. Groups hunting low over the forest call frequently.
Recording: rudy gelis — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
11 cm. Small and slender, with a short tail with spiny feather shafts and wings that are pinched at the base and broadest in the middle. The upperparts are blackish brown, with a narrow, sharply defined greyish-white band across the rump; the uppertail coverts are dark again. The throat is pale grey, blending into the dark, sooty brown underparts. The undertail is dark. Male and female are alike. In flight, rapid fluttering wingbeats alternate with short glides.
Confusion species
The Short-tailed Swift Chaetura brachyura has an even shorter tail, a broad, pale rump continuing into pale uppertail coverts, and a pale undertail. The Grey-rumped Swift Chaetura cinereiventris has a broad grey rump, a glossy blue-black back and paler grey underparts. Vaux's Swift Chaetura vauxi and the Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica lack a sharply defined rump band. The Costa Rican Swift Chaetura fumosa is very similar to the Band-rumped Swift but occurs only in south-western Costa Rica and western Panama.
Habitat
Hunts above the canopy, along forest edges and over clearings, rivers and roads in lowland rainforest, humid foothill forest and older secondary forest, up to about 600 m. Also occurs over the Chocó rainforest of Darién. Hunts small flying insects in groups. Nests in hollow trees, where the nest, a small cup of twigs, is glued with saliva to the inner wall.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of Mexico and Central America.
Range and movements
In the guide area only in Panama, from Coclé and the Canal Area east through Colón, Panamá province and Guna Yala to Darién, on both sides of the divide; common in the Canal Area. Reports from Costa Rica mostly refer to the Costa Rican Swift. Outside the guide area from western Colombia to north-western Ecuador, and also in eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Groups are regularly seen over the forest along Pipeline Road in Soberanía National Park and around Gamboa, often together with Short-tailed Swifts. Against a dark background of forested slopes, the narrow pale rump band is easiest to see when the birds hunt low over a clearing or river.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a large range and is fairly common in the lowlands of Panama. The loss of old trees with cavities may locally limit the number of nest sites.
Scientific name
Chaetura spinicaudus | (Temminck, 1839)
Temminck described the species in 1839 as Cypselus spinicaudus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Chaetura was introduced in 1826 by Stephens. Chaetura is Greek, from khaitē 'hair, bristle' and oura 'tail', after the spiny projecting shafts of the tail feathers. spinicaudus is Latin, from spina 'spine' and cauda 'tail', after the spiny shaft tips of the tail. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cayenne, French Guiana.