• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.
SACC. 2005 and updates. A classification of the bird species of South America. Available at: https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	A2acd+3cd+4acd

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Vulnerable	A2acd+3cd+4acd
2016	Near Threatened	A2c
2012	Near Threatened	A2c
2010	Near Threatened	A2c
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	low
Land-mass type		Average mass	-

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	8,580,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	5,380,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	7700000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2016
Population trend	decreasing	medium	estimated	1994-2010
Rate of change over the past 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	35%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	35%	-	-	-
Rate of change over the past & future 10 years/3 generations (longer of the two periods)	35%	-	-	-
Generation length	5.35 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has been estimated at 15,000,000 individuals in total (Rich et al. 2004) and 7,700,000 mature individuals, based on estimates from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (Rosenberg et al. 2016) .

Trend justification: Its association with chimneys may have historically allowed the population to expand. However, recent trends show strong population declines. The Partners in Flight Landbird Conservation Plan (Rosenberg et al. 2016) suggest that between 1970 and 2014 the species underwent a population reduction of 67%. Partners in Flight also gives the species a half-life of 27 years (Rosenberg et al. 2016). Extrapolating the population reduction based on short term data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey (Sauer et al. 2017) shows that over the last three generations (16 years), the population has been decreasing with a significant, estimated annual decrease of 2.68% (2.38 to 3.00%) (Sauer et al. 2017). This would equate to a reduction of 35.3% (32.1-38.7%) over three generations

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Anguilla (to UK)	extant	vagrant			yes
Aruba (to Netherlands)	extant	native
Bahamas	extant	native
Barbados	extant	vagrant
Belize	extant	native				yes
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native
Brazil	extant	native			yes
Canada	extant	native				yes
Cayman Islands (to UK)	extant	native
Chile	extant	native
Colombia	extant	native
Costa Rica	extant	native			yes
Cuba	extant	native
Dominican Republic	extant	native
Ecuador	extant	native
El Salvador	extant	native				yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	vagrant
Guatemala	extant	native
Haiti	extant	native
Honduras	extant	native
Jamaica	extant	vagrant
Mexico	extant	native
Nicaragua	extant	native
Panama	extant	native
Peru	extant	native
Portugal	extant	vagrant
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native				yes
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	native
United Kingdom	extant	vagrant
USA	extant	native		yes
Venezuela	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	vagrant

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Colombia	Santuario de Fauna y Flora Los Colorados
Honduras	Apaguiz
Honduras	Cuero y Salado
Honduras	Islas de la Bahía y Cayos Cochinos
Honduras	La Tigra
Honduras	Pico Bonito
Honduras	Sierra de Omoa - Cusuco
Honduras	Valle de Aguán
Mexico	Centro de Veracruz
Mexico	El Triunfo
Mexico	Isla Cozumel
Mexico	Los Tuxtlas
Mexico	Montes Azules
Mexico	Sierra Norte de Oaxaca

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Mangrove Vegetation Above High Tide Level	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	non-breeding
Forest	Subtropical/Tropical Moist Lowland	suitable	breeding
Forest	Temperate	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude	0 - 3200 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Logging & wood harvesting - Unintentional effects: (large scale) [harvest]	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success
Climate change & severe weather	Storms & flooding	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Negligible declines		Low Impact: 5
		Stresses Species mortality
Residential & commercial development	Housing & urban areas	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Chimney Swift Chaetura pelagica. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/chimney-swift-chaetura-pelagica on 23/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 23/12/2024.