Chaetura spinicaudus
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The band-rumped swift (Chaetura spinicaudus) is a species of bird in subfamily Apodinae of the swift family Apodidae. It is found from Panama south through Colombia into Ecuador, east from Venezuela into the Guianas and Brazil, and on Trinidad.
The band-rumped swift, pale-rumped swift (C. egregia), grey-rumped swift (C. cinereiventris), and Lesser Antillean swift (C. martinica) were at one time placed in genus Acanthylis. During much of the 20th century the Costa Rican swift (C. fumosa) was treated as a subspecies of the band-rumped. Other subspecies have been proposed but not accepted.
The band-rumped swift is 10.5 to 12.6 cm (4.1 to 5.0 in) long and weighs 13.8 to 18.5 g (0.49 to 0.65 oz). It has a protruding head, a short square tail, and wings that bulge in the middle and somewhat hook at the end. The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have black-brown upperparts with a white band on the rump. Their underparts are dark with a slightly paler throat. Juveniles have white tips on some wing feathers... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brownsberg Nature Park | 🇸🇷 Suriname | |
| 2 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Utría National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 4 | Darién National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | San Lorenzo Protected Forest | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 6 | Anavilhanas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Caroni Swamp | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 10 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Band-rumped Swift sighting in Soberanía National Park on a given day, based on 2,558 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 103rd most-seen of the 449 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
June and October
In those months about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Band-rumped Swift in Soberanía National Park on a given day, against about 20% in July–August and November–May, the lowest months. Those are among Soberanía National Park's wettest months, with about 310 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in February.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Band-rumped Swift sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
2nd of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Band-rumped Swift sightings, Soberanía National Park ranks 2nd at about 20%. The best odds are in Brownsberg Nature Park (Suriname, about 40%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Band-rumped Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Soberanía National Park (2,558 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.
