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Fork-tailed Swift

Apus pacificusOrder: APODIFORMESFamily: Swifts (Apodidae)

Fork-tailed Swift Breeding Male Portrait
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Related Birds

Common House-Martin

General

Fork-tailed Swift: Large swift, brown-black overall with white throat and rump, scaled belly, and long, deeply forked tail. Sexes are similar. Juvenile has pale forehead.

Range and Habitat

Fork-tailed Swift: A rare vagrant in western Europe, but has been recorded as far west as Norway and Great Britain; spends winters south to Australia. Casual to rare summer visitor on the western Aleutians and Pribilof islands of Alaska. Preferred habitats include mountains and human habitations, usually near water.

Voice Text

"chree-chree-chree-chree-chree", "spee-err"

Interesting Facts

  • The Fork-tailed Swift is also known as the Pacific Swift and Neotropical Palm Swift.
  • These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. The scientific name comes from the Greek apous, meaning "without feet." They never settle voluntarily on the ground.
  • This swift is superficially similar to a House Martin, however it is completely unrelated to those passerine species, since swifts are in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.
  • A group of swifts are collectively known as a "box", "flock", "screaming frenzy", and "swoop" of swifts.


Author

Gary Owen Dick

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Range Map for Fork-tailed Swift
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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.
Family
Species Apus pacificus
Length7.5 - 8 Inches
Wingspan20 Inches

Fork-tailed Swift

Fork-tailed Swift: Large swift, brown-black overall with white throat and rump, scaled belly, and long, deeply forked tail. Bill is black, legs and feet are gray-black. Rapid flight on stiff, quickly beating swept-back wings, alternating with gliding flight. Catches insects midflight.

● Song: "chree-chree-chree-chree-chree", "spee-err"

● Foraging & Feeding: Fork-tailed Swift: Feeds on insects; forages in flight.

● Breeding & nesting: Fork-tailed Swift: Two to three white eggs are laid in a nest made of grass, moss, and leaves, glued together with sticky saliva, and built on a cliff ridge or under a roof crevice; usually nests near water. Incubation ranges from 19 to 22 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Fork-tailed Swift: Other swifts lack deeply forked tail.

Flight Pattern

Rapid dashing flight on stiff rapidly beating swept-back wings, alternating with gliding flight.
Fork-tailed Swift Breeding Male Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Fork-tailed Swift: A rare vagrant in western Europe, but has been recorded as far west as Norway and Great Britain; spends winters south to Australia. Casual to rare summer visitor on the western Aleutians and Pribilof islands of Alaska. Preferred habitats include mountains and human habitations, usually near water.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial
PopulationCasual to rare
MigrationMigratory
Weight1.7 Ounces