This bird spends much of its time in the air; it forages, drinks, bathes, courts and, sometimes, even copulates on the fly. When it does alight, it is usually on a vertical surface, which it grips with its toes, using its stiff tail feathers as a prop. It can gather in large groups, and may be seen in the evening, circling around the tops of chimneys or air shafts as the birds funnel in to roost for the night.

Species Description:
Length: 12.7 to 13.3 cm

Physical characteristics: A small, short-tailed swift, dark gray in color, with a lighter throat and underwings. The wings are long, narrow and curved, and the tail, unlike many swallows, is squared off. Sexes are similar.

Voice: Song is a series of high pitched twitters.

Breeding habitat:
During the breeding season the Chimney Swift is found mostly in urban areas.

Mating system:
Typically monogamous, although a pair may have a helper, either a male or a female, who helps incubate and/or feed the young. One brood is thought to be produced per season.

Nest:
The nest is a half saucer, made up of twigs that are snapped off of branches as the bird flies by. The twigs are glued together and to the side of a chimney or other appropriate man-made structure with the swift's sticky saliva. (In wilder areas a hollow tree is the preferred nesting site.) The nest is unlined.

Eggs:
The clutch size of a Chimney Swift is 3 - 6 eggs. The eggs are white and unmarked. 20mm (0.8 in.).

Chick development:
Both adults are involved in incubating the eggs for 19 to 21 days. The young are hatched altricial. Both parents brood, feed and care for the chicks. The young fledge 28 to 30 days after hatching.

Diet:
The diet consists exclusively of insects. The Chimney Swift forages on the wing; snatching flying insects in the air.

Conservation Biology:
The Chimney Swift population has been declining. This is possibly due to the loss of nesting sites, as the use of metal chimneys and chimney screens and caps has become more common.

Breeding: The Chimney Swift breeds in the far southeastern corner of Canada, and in the eastern half of the United States.

Winter: This species is a neotropical migrant that winters in the Amazon valley (mainly in Peru) in South America for the winter. Large flocks may form and roost together, particularly during migration.

The Chimney Swift is a common breeding bird species in the Park. This species can be observed in a variety of habitats in the Park, but is most common at upper elevations. It is usually detected chattering above the forest canopy. A survey of breeding birds in the Park, performed from 1996-1999, ranked Chimney Swift as the 30th most abundant species out of 113 species observed during the breeding season.

Estimates from this survey indicate that overall Chimney Swift density in the Park during the breeding season is approximately 0.062 pairs/hectare. The results of this density analysis may underestimate Chimney Swift populations in the Park. The sampling method required distances to be measured to each bird observed and birds flying over were not recorded. Therefore, many Chimney Swift observations were deleted from analysis which may have resulted in a low estimate of Chimney Swift density in the Park.

References:

Alsop, F. J. III. 1991. Birds Of The Smokies. Great Smoky Mountains History Association, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Bent, A. C. and Collaborators. 1996 - 2002. Chimney Swift, In Life Histories of Familiar North American Birds, ed., Patricia Query Newforth.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2000. Forty-second supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 117: 847-858.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 2002. Forty-third supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 119: 897-906.

Committee on Classification and Nomenclature of the American Ornithologists' Union. 1998. Check-list of North American Birds: the Species of Birds of North America from the Arctic through Panama, including the West Indies and Hawaiian Islands, 7th ed

Ehrlich, P. R., D. S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The Birder's Handbook: a Field Guide to the Natural History of North American Birds. Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York.

Elphick, C., J. B. Dunning, Jr., and D. A. Sibley, eds. 2001. The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Gough, G. A., Sauer, J. R., Iliff, M. Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter. 1998. Version 97.1. Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, MD. http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/infocenter.html.

Sibley, D. A. 2000. The Sibley Guide to Birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.

Stupka, A. 1963. Notes on the birds of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. University of Tennessee Press.