Family:
The chimney swift is a small, stocky bird with a tube-shaped body, very long, narrow, curved wings, and a short, square-cut tail.
Its plumage is dusky brown overall, with a slightly paler throat, though it often appears entirely black when seen silhouetted against the sky. It flies swiftly with steady wingbeats, frequently twisting and banking erratically in flight. The species gets its name from its preferred nesting sites.
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Chimney swifts forage while in flight, with the vast majority of their diet consisting of flying insects such as flies, ants, bees, wasps, aphids, scale insects, and mayflies, as well as airborne spiders drifting on threads.
Chimney swifts are found throughout much of the eastern United States and the southern parts of eastern Canada, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. Almost always in flight, they spend their days on the wing above open country, savannas, lakes, wooded hillsides, and humid forests.
They nest in chimneys and other vertical manmade structures such as air vents, wells, and cisterns, and occasionally use hollow trees or caves.
In winter, chimney swifts migrate to South America.
