The great swallow-tailed swift (''Panyptila sanctihieronymi'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family

Apodidae The swifts are a family, Apodidae, of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes with hummingbirds. The treeswifts are closely ...

.HBW and BirdLife International (2021) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 6. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v6_Dec21.zip retrieved August 7, 2022 It is found in Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The great swallow-tailed swift shares genus ''Panyptila'' with the

lesser swallow-tailed swift The lesser swallow-tailed swift or Cayenne swift (''Panyptila cayennensis'') is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae. It is found from southern Mexico through Central America; in every mainland South America cou ...

(''P. cayennensis''). It is

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

Description

The great swallow-tailed swift is long and weighs about . It has long narrow wings and a long deeply forked tail. The sexes are alike. Adults have a black crown and upper face with two white spots on the forehead. Most of their body is bluish black. Their lower face, throat, collar, upper chest, and flanks are white. Their flight feathers have grayish ends and white tips.van Dort, J. (2020). Great Swallow-tailed Swift (''Panyptila sanctihieronymi''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.gstswi1.01 retrieved October 8, 2022

Distribution and habitat

The great swallow-tailed swift is found from

Nayarit Nayarit (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Nayarit ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Nayarit), is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 20 municipalities and its ...

in western Mexico south through Guatemala and Honduras into northern Nicaragua. There are also a few records in Costa Rica. It generally inhabits arid to semi-arid highland landscapes characterized by canyons and large cliffs. In elevation it typically ranges between but sometimes wanders to humid areas as low as .

Behavior

Movement

The great swallow-tailed swift is generally a year-round resident throughout its range but some wander to Costa Rica outside the breeding season.

Feeding

Like all swifts, the great swallow-tailed swift is an aerial insectivore. It usually forages alone or in small flocks of its species. Details of its diet are lacking.

Breeding

The great swallow-tailed swift builds a tubular nest about long from seed fluff and feathers felted with saliva. It has an entrance near the bottom and the eggs are held on shelf towards the top. It is suspended from the underside of an overhanging rock. The clutch size us unknown but is suspected to be the same two or three eggs as that of the lesser swallow-tailed swift. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

Two vocalizations of the great swallow-tailed swift are "a plaintive, subtly bisyllabic ''teeuw, teeuw''" and "a reedy chatter ''kri-kri-kri-kri-kreeuw-kreee''".

Status

The IUCN has assessed the great swallow-tailed swift as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an estimated population of between 20,000 and 50,000 mature individuals. The latter is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. Some authors believe it is one of the rarer swifts but it appears to be common in at least Honduras.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273983 great swallow-tailed swift Birds of Central America Birds of Mexico Birds of Guatemala Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua great swallow-tailed swift great swallow-tailed swift Taxonomy articles created by Polbot