American black swift
{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Black Swift, adult.jpg
| image_caption = An adult on its nest in Shoshone County, Idaho
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Cypseloides
| species = niger
| authority = (Gmelin, JF, 1789)
| range_map = Cypseloides niger map.svg
| range_map_caption = Range
{{leftlegend|#FF8026|breeding visitor|outline=gray}}
{{leftlegend|#FFDE54|passage and vagrancy|outline=gray}}
{{leftlegend|#7134CA|present year-round|outline=gray}}
(movements in South America are poorly known)
}}
The American black swift, or more simply black swift (Cypseloides niger), is a species of bird that is found from northern British Columbia in Canada through the United States and Mexico to Costa Rica and Brazil. They are also found in the Caribbean.
Taxonomy
The American black swift was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other swallows and swifts in the genus Hirundo and coined the binomial name Hirundo nigra.{{ cite book | last=Gmelin | first=Johann Friedrich | author-link=Johann Friedrich Gmelin| year=1789 | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | edition=13th | volume=1, Part 1 | language=Latin | location=Lipsiae [Leipzig] | publisher=Georg. Emanuel. Beer | page=1025 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/2656520 }} Gmelin based his description on that of French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson who, in 1760, had described and illustrated "Le Martinet de Saint Dominigue" from a preserved specimen.{{ cite book | last=Brisson | first=Mathurin Jacques | author-link=Mathurin Jacques Brisson | year=1760 | title=Ornithologie, ou, Méthode Contenant la Division des Oiseaux en Ordres, Sections, Genres, Especes & leurs Variétés | volume=2 | language=French, Latin | pages=514-515, Plate 46 fig. 3 | location=Paris | publisher=Jean-Baptiste Bauche | url=http://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36010428 }} The two stars (**) at the start of the section indicates that Brisson based his description on the examination of a specimen. The type locality is Hispaniola: Saint-Domingue was a French colony on the Caribbean island.{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1940 | title=Check-list of Birds of the World | volume=4 | publisher=Harvard University Press | place=Cambridge, Massachusetts | page=243 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14476714 }} The American black swift is now placed with seven other swifts in the genus Cypseloides and was introduced in 1848 by the German naturist August Vollrath Streubel.{{ cite journal | last=Streubel | first=August Vollrath | year=1848 | title=Die Cypseliden des Berliner Museums | journal=Isis von Oken | language=German | at=Cols 348–373 [366]| url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13256271 }}{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela Rasmussen | date=January 2022 | title=Owlet-nightjars, treeswifts & swifts | work=IOC World Bird List Version 12.1 | url=http://www.worldbirdnames.org/bow/swifts/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | accessdate=9 July 2022 }} The genus name combines the genus Cypselus introduced by Johann Illiger in 1811 and the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling". The specific epithet niger is the Latin word for "black".{{cite book | last=Jobling | first=James A. | year=2010| title=The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher=Christopher Helm | location=London | isbn=978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages=[https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n129/mode/1up 129], [https://archive.org/stream/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling#page/n270/mode/1up 270]}}
Three subspecies are recognised:
- C. n. borealis (Kennerly, 1858) – southeast Alaska to southwest USA
- C. n. costaricensis Ridgway, 1910 – central Mexico to Costa Rica
- C. n. niger (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – West Indies and Trinidad
Description
In flight, these birds resemble flying cigars with long slender curved wings. The plumage is mostly a sooty, dark gray. There is some contrast between the inner and outer portions of the wing. The shoulders are distinctly darker in color than other parts of the wing. They have short tails that are slightly forked.
Distribution and habitat
Fewer than 150 black swift breeding sites are known in the United States and Canada, with 108 (as of July 2012) known from Colorado. These include:
- In Alberta: next to a waterfall in Johnston Canyon, Banff National Park (declining, given extra protection as of August 2018); Maligne Canyon, Jasper National Park{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/alberta-johnston-canyon-black-swift-nesting-1.4788971 |title=Unofficial trail in 'secret cave' area of Johnston Canyon closed by Parks Canada to protect unique birds |author=Staff writers |work=CBC News |date=2018-08-17 |access-date=2018-08-19}}
- In California: the Santa Cruz coast (where it is declining); Berry Creek Falls; Burney Falls State Park; Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; the San Bernardino Mountains; and the San Jacinto Mountains
- In Colorado: Box Canyon near Ouray, Hanging Lake, Hawk Creek Falls, Falls Creek Falls, and Niagara and Cataract Gulches
- In New Mexico: Jemez Falls
- In Utah: Stewart Falls
- In Washington: Semiahmoo Bay
These birds migrate out of North America after the breeding season. It remains unclear where most of the birds spend the winter, although some of the birds have been tracked as far south as Brazil. A study published in 2012 tagged four birds breeding in Colorado with a light-level geolocator and found that the birds wintered in the lowland rainforest of western Brazil.{{Cite journal | last1=Beason | first1=J.P. | last2=Gunn | first2=C. | last3=Potter | first3=K.M. | last4=Sparks | first4=R.A. | last5=Fox | first5=J.W. | date=2012 | title=The northern black swift: migration path and wintering area revealed | journal=The Wilson Journal of Ornithology | volume=124 | issue=1 | pages=1–8 | doi=10.1676/11-146.1}} Some of the birds in the West Indies appear to be permanent residents. They are late spring migrants into the breeding range, with Colorado breeders not arriving until the very end of May into June. Large flocks of migrants are occasionally seen in spring and fall, but only very rarely far south of the U.S. breeding range.{{cite journal | last1=Gunn | first1=C. | last2=Lowther | first2=P.E. | last3=Collins | first3=C.T. | last4=Beason | first4=J. | last5=Potter | first5=K. | last6=Webb | first6=M. | date=2020 | title=Black Swift (Cypseloides niger), version 2.0 | editor1-last=Billerman | editor1-first=S.M. | editor2-last=Keeney | editor2-first=B.K. | journal=Birds of the World | location=Ithaca, NY, USA | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | doi=10.2173/bow.blkswi.02 | url=https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blkswi.02 | access-date=9 July 2022 | url-access=subscription }}
Behavior and ecology
=Food and feeding=
=Breeding=
Their breeding habitat is frequently associated with water. The birds most often nest on high cliff faces, either above the ocean surf or behind or next to waterfalls. The nest is made of twigs and moss glued together with mud. They will also use ferns and seaweed if available. The clutch size is one egg, with incubation lasting 23–27 days. Newly hatched young are probably fed multiple times a day, but older nestlings usually only once a day by each parent, most often at dusk. Adults spend the night roosting at or near the nest site.
References
{{Reflist|refs=
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External links
{{Commons category|Cypseloides niger}}
{{Wikispecies|Cypseloides niger}}
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010227210351/http://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/8400200.htm Black swift Stamps]}} from the Lesser Antilles: Dominica at {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/19990428065259/http://www.bird-stamps.org/ bird-stamps.org]}}
- {{VIREO|black+swift}}
- {{BirdLife|22686440|Cypseloides niger}}
- {{InternetBirdCollection|black-swift-cypseloides-niger|Black swift}}
- {{IUCN_Map|22686440/178440176|Cypseloides niger}}
- {{Xeno-canto species|Cypseloides|niger|American black swift}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1267488}}
Category:Native birds of Western Canada
Category:Native birds of the Western United States
Category:Birds of Central America