Chaetura brachyura
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura) is a bird in the Apodidae, or swift family. The species was first formally described as Acanthylis brachyura in 1846 by the Scottish naturalist Sir William Jardine, based on the observations of Mr. Kirk, a resident of Tobago.
The genus name Chaetura is derived from the Greek khaite (hair) and oura (tail). The specific epithet brachyura is Greek for brakhus (short) and ouros (tailed). Four subspecies are recognized: C. b. praevelox, found in Grenada, Saint Vincent, and Tobago
C. b. brachyura, the nominate subspecies, found from Panama to Trinidad and the Guianas, south to west-central Brazil and northern Bolivia C. b. ocypetes, found in southwest Ecuador and northwest Peru The swift is a common resident of Trinidad, Tobago, Grenada and Saint Vincent, and in tropical South America from Panama, Colombia and the Guianas south to Ecuador, Peru and Brazil; in Brazil, the entire Amazon Basin, excluding much of the southeastern Basin.... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Main Ridge Forest Reserve | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 2 | Yasuní National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 3 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 5 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Caroni Swamp | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 8 | Amacayacu National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 10 | Manu National Park | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 11 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 12 | Sierra de la Macarena National Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 13 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 14 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 15 | Tambopata National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 16 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 17 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 18 | Podocarpus National Park | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | |
| 19 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belém | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | São Luís | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Santa Cruz de la Sierra | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | |
| 4 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Manaus | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Guayaquil | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Swift sighting in Parque Natural Metropolitano on a given day, based on 317 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 77th most-seen of the 328 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Short-tailed Swift in Parque Natural Metropolitano on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Short-tailed Swift sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 19
Of the 19 parks where we can rate Short-tailed Swift sightings, Parque Natural Metropolitano ranks 9th at about 10%. The best odds are in Main Ridge Forest Reserve (Trinidad and Tobago, about 30%), Yasuní National Park (Ecuador, about 30%) and Soberanía National Park (Panama, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Short-tailed Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Parque Natural Metropolitano (317 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
