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Short-tailed Swift | Chaetura brachyura
Kortstaartgierzwaluw | Vencejo colicorto
The Short-tailed Swift is a common swift of northern South America that in the guide area occurs only in Panama. Its very short tail and broad inner wing give it a distinctive flight silhouette, unlike any other swift in the guide area. It hunts in groups over open and semi-open country and settlements, often together with the Band-rumped Swift.
Voice
A rapid, twittering series, stee-stee-stew-stew-stew, and single sharp chip calls, mainly heard from groups flying low.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
10–11 cm. Stocky, with a very short tail that barely projects beyond the trailing edge of the wing in flight. The wings are broad at the secondaries and narrow at the base, giving them a paddle-shaped profile. The plumage is mostly blackish brown, with a pale greyish-brown rump and uppertail coverts that merge without a sharp border into the short tail; the undertail coverts are also pale. The throat is slightly paler than the rest of the underparts. Male and female are alike.
Confusion species
The Band-rumped Swift Chaetura spinicaudus has a narrow, sharply defined pale band across the rump, dark uppertail coverts, a dark undertail and a longer tail. The Grey-rumped Swift Chaetura cinereiventris has a longer tail, a glossy blue-black back and a grey rump that contrasts sharply with the black tail. Vaux's Swift Chaetura vauxi and the Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica are more uniformly dark, with a longer tail and a dark undertail.
Habitat
Hunts over open and semi-open lowland country: forest edges, secondary forest, gallery forest, pastures with trees, river valleys, villages and towns; mostly below about 600 m. Forages in groups, often together with other swifts and swallows. Nests in hollow trees, shafts, wells and buildings; the nest is a small, shallow cup of twigs glued with saliva to a vertical 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, mainly from the Canal Area and Panamá province east through Colón and Guna Yala to Darién, on both sides of the divide; further west, in Coclé, Veraguas and Chiriquí, scarce and irregular. In the Canal Area one of the commonest swifts. Outside the guide area from Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and the Guianas to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Amazonian Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In and around Panama City, at Gamboa and over open ground along the Panama Canal, groups can be seen all year. In flight, the silhouette with the almost absent tail and the broad trailing edge of the wing is the best feature.
Conservation status
Not threatened. The species has a very large range and is common in much of it. It also uses buildings for nesting and benefits from open, man-made landscapes.
Scientific name
Chaetura brachyura | (Jardine, 1846)
Jardine described the species in 1846 as Acanthylis brachyura; 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. brachyura is Greek, from brakhus 'short' and oura 'tail', after the very short tail. The specimen the first description was based on came from Tobago.