Fork-tailed Palm-Swift (Tachornis squamata)

Order: Apodiformes Family: Apodidae | IUCN Status: Least Concern

fork-tailed_palm-swift
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Amazonas, Brazil

fork-tailed_palm-swift
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Napo, Ecuador

fork-tailed_palm-swift
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Amazonas, Brazil

fork-tailed_palm-swift
Age: Adult | Sex: Unknown | Loc. Amazonas, Brazil


Identification & Behavior: ~13 cm (5.1 in). The Fork-tailed Palm-Swift has bluish-gray upperparts. The underparts are whitish with gray flanks and flecked gray and whitish 0n the lower belly.  The tail is relatively long and deeply forked. It forages over large rivers and floodplain forests.  The Fork-tailed Palm-Swift it tightly associated with stands of Mauritia Palm where it breeds and roosts. The thin and slender appearance and fast wing beats during the flight are diagnostic, but see Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, which is mostly black.

Status: The Fork-tailed Palm-Swift is uncommon to fairly common over large rivers and floodplain forest in Amazonia where it ranges at elevations of up to 800 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Vencejo Tijereta de Palmeras.

Sub-species: Fork-tailed Palm-Swift (Tachornis squamata semota), (Riley), 1933.

Meaning of Name: Tachornis: Gr. Takhus= fast ornithos= bird. squamata: L. squamatus, squama= scale, scaled.

See more of the Family Apodidae   peru aves

Distribution Map
fork-tailed_palm-swiftVoice


References:

    • Species range based on: Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, and L. Rico. 2006. Distribution maps of the birds of Peru, version 1.0. Environment, Culture & Conservation (ECCo). The Field Museum.  http://fm2.fieldmuseum.org/uw_test/birdsofperu on 08/01/2015.