Chaetura vauxi
Silhouette: Aviceda (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Vaux's swift (Chaetura vauxi) is a small swift native to North America, Central America, and northern South America. It was named for the American scientist William Sansom Vaux. This is a small swift, even compared to other Chaetura species, at 10.7 to 11.2 cm (4.2 to 4.4 in) long and weighing 18 g (0.63 oz). The northern populations are slightly larger at 11.5 cm (4.5 in), probably according to the Bergmann's Rule and/or migration requirements. It has a cigar-shaped body, crescentic wings and a short bluntly squared-off tail. The head, upperparts and wings are dusky black, and the underparts, rump and tail coverts are greyish brown. The throat is paler grey, becoming whitish in northern birds. The sexes are similar, but juveniles have dusky bases to the throat feathers.
Vaux's swift breeds in highlands from southern Alaska to central California and from southern Mexico, the northern Yucatán Peninsula, to eastern Panama and northern Venezuela. The United States' populations are migratory, wintering from central Mexico south through the Central American breeding range. The resident breeding birds in the southern part of the range are sometimes... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Salvador | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | |
| 2 | Guatemala City | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | |
| 3 | Portland | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | San José | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 5 | Mexico City | 🇲🇽 México | |
| 6 | Managua | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 7 | San Pedro Sula | 🇭🇳 Honduras | |
| 8 | Seattle | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 9 | Vancouver | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 10 | San Francisco | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Vaux's Swift sighting in Volcán Barú National Park on a given day, based on 61 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 151st most-seen of the 296 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
March, May and July
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Vaux's Swift in Volcán Barú National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April, June and August–February, the lowest months.
Between 6 and 9 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Vaux's Swift sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
28th of 53
Of the 53 parks where we can rate Vaux's Swift sightings, Volcán Barú National Park ranks 28th at under 5%. The best odds are in Arrecifes de Cozumel National Park (Mexico, about 40%), Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 30%) and Tikal National Park (Guatemala, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Vaux's Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Volcán Barú National Park (61 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.
