The short-tailed swift is a bird in the Apodidae, or swift family.
Region
Northern South America, Trinidad and Tobago, Lesser Antilles, and southern Central America
Typical Environment
Occurs widely from Panama through northern South America, including Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, northern Brazil, and on Trinidad and Tobago and nearby Lesser Antillean islands. Prefers lowland habitats with open skies such as forest edges, savannas, rivers, wetlands, plantations, and towns. Frequently forages over open water and along roads and clearings. Readily uses human structures for roosting and nesting.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The short-tailed swift is a compact, sooty-brown swift with a notably stubby tail and rapid, buzzing flight. It often nests in colonies on vertical surfaces such as inside buildings, culverts, bridges, and palm thatch, gluing small cup nests with saliva. Highly aerial, it spends most of its life on the wing, drinking and bathing by skimming water surfaces. It is common in lowlands and adapts well to human-modified landscapes.
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats with swift, direct flight and occasional brief glides
Social Behavior
Usually seen in small to large flocks, often mixed with other swifts. Nests colonially on vertical surfaces, constructing shallow, half-cup nests cemented with saliva. Both parents incubate and feed the young, and communal roosting is common outside the breeding season.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Gives high, dry chips and rapid twittering trills, often in continuous series while foraging. Calls are thin and insect-like, carrying well over open areas.
Plumage
Uniform sooty-brown to blackish with slightly paler throat and rump; wings long and narrow with pointed tips; tail very short and square to slightly notched.
Diet
Feeds almost exclusively on aerial insects such as ants, termites, beetles, flies, and small wasps. Captures prey on the wing at varying heights, adjusting to insect swarms. Will skim water surfaces to drink while flying.
Preferred Environment
Forages above open habitats, river corridors, forest edges, fields, and urban areas. Often concentrates over bodies of water and near insect emergences.
