Chaetura meridionalis
The Sick's Swift (*Chaetura meridionalis*), also known as the Southern Swift, is a medium-sized swift, measuring approximately 13-14.5 cm in length. It boasts a uniformly sooty-blackish brown plumage across its body, often appearing slightly paler on the throat and belly, especially in good light. Distinctive field marks include its long, narrow, scythe-like wings, which are held stiffly in flight, and a short, blunt, square-tipped tail that lacks the spiny projections seen in some other swif...
Primarily inhabits a variety of open and semi-open habitats including forests, open woodlands, savannas, and urban areas from lowlands up to moderate elevations.
Exclusively aerial insectivores, feeding on a wide variety of flying insects including beetles, flies, ants, and termites, captured with their wide gape during continuous flight.
Sick's Swifts are quintessential aerialists, spending most of their daylight hours continuously in flight, only landing to nest or roost. They are diurnal, engaging in perpetual foraging, drinking, and even mating on the wing. During the non-breeding season and migration, they form immense commun...
The Sick's Swift is an intra-tropical migrant found throughout much of central and eastern South America. Its primary breeding range extends across south-central and southeastern Brazil, eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, northern Argentina, and Uruguay, particularly during the austral summer (November t...
Least Concern
- Sick's Swifts are capable of spending almost their entire day in continuous flight, only touching down to nest or roost. - Their nests are delicate half-cup structures made of tiny twigs and plant material, meticulously glued together with their own sticky saliva onto vertical surfaces. - These...