Chaetura meridionalis
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It was previously considered conspecific with the smaller ashy-tailed swift, but a study published in 1997 found that Sick's swift was closer to the chimney swift. The English name commemorates the German-born ornithologist Helmut Sick who studied South American birds. It is a migratory species that breeds in central South America and overwinters in northern South America. The IUCN has listed it as being of "Least Concern".
Sick's swift was formally described in 1907 by the Austrian ornithologist Carl Eduard Hellmayr from specimens collected in the Santiago del Estero Province of northern Argentina. Hellmayr considered it to be a subspecies of the ashy-tailed swift and coined the trinomial name Chaetura andrei meridionalis. The specific epithet is a Latin word meaning "southern". Based on a study by the ornithologist Manuel Marín, Sick's swift is now considered to be separate from the ashy-tailed swift and has been elevated to species status. The English name commemorates the German-born ornithologist, Helmut Sick, who studied Brazilian birdlife.
The upperparts dark smoky... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Serra dos Órgãos National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Itatiaia National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Emas National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Iguazú National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Serra da Canastra National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Iguaçu National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Tijuca National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | El Impenetrable National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 9 | Chapada Diamantina National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Chapada dos Guimarães National Park | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 11 | Parque Estadual Encontro das Águas | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 2 | Salvador | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 3 | Curitiba | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 4 | Niterói | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | São Paulo | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 6 | Vitória | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 7 | Campinas | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 8 | Belo Horizonte | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 9 | João Pessoa | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 10 | Fortaleza | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Sick's Swift sighting in Tijuca National Park on a given day, based on 295 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 62nd most-seen of the 214 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
September to December
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a Sick's Swift in Tijuca National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May to August, the lowest months.
Between 4 and 7 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sick's 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.
7th of 11
Of the 11 parks where we can rate Sick's Swift sightings, Tijuca National Park ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Serra dos Órgãos National Park (Brazil, about 30%), Itatiaia National Park (Brazil, about 20%) and Emas National Park (Brazil, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sick's Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Tijuca National Park (295 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.
