Andean Swift - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Greg Lavaty
Santa Eulalia, Peru, February 2010

Aeronautes andecolus

Identification

14 cm (5½ in)

• Pale rump
• White collar
• White underparts
• Black belly and tail
• Long, thin wings with narrow white trailing edge to the secondaries
• Long, moderately forked tail

Distribution

Photo © by Greg Lavaty
Peru, February 2010

South America: found in Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and western Argentina.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• A. a. parvulus:

• Andes of western Peru to extreme northern Chile

• A. a. peruvianus :

• Andes of south-eastern Peru

• A. a. andecolus:

• Andes of Bolivia to western Argentina (Río Negro)

Habitat

A. a. andecolus
Photo © by Stanley Jones
Salta, Salta Province, Argentina, October 2019

Arid or semi-arid montane scrub and oasis valleys.

Behaviour

A very gregarious species.

Diet

Their diet consists of aerial insects.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Arthur Grosset
3. Chantler, P. & Boesman, P. (2020). Andean Swift (Aeronautes andecolus). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55317 on 2 March 2020).
4. World Birds

• Arthur Grosset's Birds
• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Andean Swift. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Andean_Swift

External Links

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