Pygmy Palm Swift
Tachornis furcata
A tiny dark swift with a long, slender, pointed tail. Restricted to the Maracaibo basin of Venezuela, barely slipping over the border into Colombia in Norte de Santander. In flight note the dark body with pale gray throat and belly. Similar to Fork-tailed Palm-Swift, but Pygmy Swift is much smaller and has darker underparts. Usually in groups flying in circles at low levels close to grasslands, open areas, towns, always near palm trees.
Identification
The pygmy palm swift is about 10 cm (3.9 in) long. It has long, thin, pointed wings and a long deeply forked tail. The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has entirely brown upperparts. Its whitish throat and upper belly are separated by a brown band, and the lower belly and undertail coverts are brown. Subspecies T. f. nigrodorsalis has blacker upperparts than the nominate and its throat is whiter.
Taxonomy
The pygmy palm swift was at times placed in the monotypic genus Micropanyptila. It was also previously lumped as a subspecies of what is now the fork-tailed palm swift (Tachornis squamata) in genus Reinarda. It has two subspecies, the nominate T. f. furcata and T. f. nigrodorsalis.
- Scientific name
- Tachornis furcata
- Authority
- (Sutton, 1928)
- Order
- Apodiformes
- Family
- Apodidae
- Genus
- Tachornis
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of pygmy palm swift is found in northeastern Colombia's Norte de Santander Department and the adjoining southern part of Venezuela's Maracaibo Basin. T. f. nigrodorsalis is found in the western part of the Maracaibo Basin. The species primarily inhabits lowland tropical evergreen forest, secondary forest, and regrowing scrublands. It is also found in cultivated and other open areas as long as they contain palm trees.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The pygmy palm swift is believed to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>Like all swifts, the pygmy palm swift is an aerial insectivore, but details of its diet are lacking. It usually forages in small flocks.<p>The pygmy palm swift's breeding season has not been fully defined but could be as long as January to July. It makes a bag nest, mostly of feathers glued together with saliva, and hanging from the underside of a drooping palm frond. The clutch size, incubation period, and time to fledging are not known.<p>As of late 2022 xeno-canto had no recordings of pygmy palm swift vocalizations and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Macaulay Library only one. The species' call is described as "buzzy 'bee-beez-beez-beez-be-be-be', accelerating and trailing off".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
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