[order] Apodiformes | [family] Apodidae | [latin] Tachornis squamata | [IT] Rondone delle palme codaforcuta | [UK] Fork-tailed Palm Swift | [FR] Martinet claudia | [DE] Gabelschwanzsegler | [ES] Vencejillo Tijereta | [NL] Braziliaanse Palmgierzwaluw | [SU]Zwaluw
Physical charateristics
Fork-tailed Palm Swift is a slender, narrow-winged species, 13.2 cm long, with a long forked tail, and weighs 11 g. The nominate western form T. s. squamata has black-brown upperparts with a slight greenish gloss. The underparts are a paler brown with a white throat and central underbody. The eastern race T. s. semota of Trinidad, the Guianas and central and eastern Brazil is much darker, almost steel-black above and darker brown below. Juveniles are very similar, but have buff fringes to the upperparts and head in fresh plumage.
| wingspan min.: | 0 | cm | wingspan max.: | 0 | cm |
| size min.: | 12 | cm | size max.: | 14 | cm |
| incubation min.: | 20 | days | incubation max.: | 21 | days |
| fledging min.: | 0 | days | fledging max.: | 0 | days |
| broods: | 1 | eggs min.: | 2 | ||
| eggs max.: | 4 |
Range
The Fork-tailed Palm Swift, Tachornis squamata, is a resident breeding bird from Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas and Trinidad south to northeastern Peru and Brazil. In Suriname confined to the savanna areas, does not occur in the coastal plane
Habitat
This small swift is found locally in marshy habitats, or sometimes open forest, usually near Moriche Palms.
Reproduction
It builds a C-shaped nest of feathers, saliva and plant material on the inside of the dead leaf of a Moriche Palm. Three white eggs are laid in the depression of the C, and incubated for 21 days to hatching.
Feeding habits
Fork-tailed Palm Swift feeds in low flight on flying insects. It normally stays at less than 10 m above the ground. It normally occurs in small groups of up to 30 birds.
Conservation
This species has a large range, with an estimated global extent of occurrence of 9,500,000 km2. The global population size has not been quantified, but it is believed to be large as the species is described as ‘common’ in at least parts of its range (Stotz et al. 1996). Global population trends have not been quantified, but the species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations). For these reasons, the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Migration
Sedentary throughout range with some vagrancy reported
Distribution map
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