Chimney swift
Chaetura pelagica
Identification Tips:
- Sexes similar
- Juvenile similar to adult
- Small aerial bird with cigar-shaped body and crescent-shaped
wings
- Short tail bluntly squared off
- Plumage sooty gray above with slightly paler rump
- Buff throat darkening to sooty gray on belly
- Underwings pale gray
Similar species:
All swallows have longer tails, usually with a notch or fork,
and broader wings. Black Swift and White-throated Swift have
forked tails and different patterning below. Vaux's Swift is
extremely similar but is somewhat smaller, with shorter wings, a
paler rump and throat, and a different call.