CreatureData

Chimney swift

Chaetura pelagica (Linnaeus, 1758)

VUVulnerablebirds

The chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica) is a species in the family Apodidae, order Apodiformes. Recorded adults weigh 23 g to 23.6 g and live up to 14 years. Its IUCN Red List status is Vulnerable.

Chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica)
Photo: Adam Jackson · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the chimney swift

Weight
23 g – 23.6 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
14 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
15 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
20 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
4.5src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
12 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
1src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the chimney swift live?

Not recorded

What is the chimney swift?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica) is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both Vaux's swift and Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching on flat surfaces, and can only perch on vertical surfaces. Many fly around all day and only come down at night when roosting.

The chimney swift feeds primarily on flying insects, but also on airborne spiders. It generally mates for life. It builds a bracket nest of twigs and saliva stuck to a vertical surface, which is almost always a human-built structure, typically a chimney; historically (before European colonists built chimneys), they nested in hollow trees (including old pileated woodpecker nest holes), a few still do so, though only rarely. The female lays 4–5 white eggs. The altricial young hatch after 19 days and fledge a month later. The average chimney swift lives 4.6 years.

From the Wikipedia article “Chimney swift” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chimney_swift&oldid=1380658680), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the chimney swift endangered?

The chimney swift is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List: it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Vulnerable species.

How is the chimney swift classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderApodiformes
  5. familyApodidae
  6. genusChaetura
  7. SpeciesChaetura pelagica (Linnaeus, 1758)

Synonyms Hirundo pelagica, Hirundo pelasgia

Other names and names in other languages (62)
  • American swiftEnglish
  • KochochohkihpoAlabama
  • سمامة أمريكيةArabic
  • Dam iynəquyruğuAzerbaijani
  • Коминен бързолетBulgarian
  • Falciot de xemeneiaCatalan
  • falciot cuaespinós de xemeneiaCatalan
  • ᎠᏂᎪᏍᏓᏯCherokee
  • rorýs ostnitýCzech
  • coblyn simddeWelsh
  • Gwennol ddu'r simneiauWelsh
  • SkorstenssejlerDanish
  • SchornsteinseglerGerman
  • Αμερικάνικη ΒελονοσταχτάραGreek
  • kamena apodoEsperanto
  • Kamentuba apusoEsperanto
  • Vencejo de PasoSpanish
  • Vencejo de chimeneaSpanish
  • korstna-kammsabaEstonian
  • piippukiitäjäFinnish
  • Piippukiitäjä PiippukirskujaFinnish
  • martinet ramoneurFrench
  • Gabhlán simléirIrish
  • Gollan y chimleeManx
  • Ti Irondèl etranjeHaitian Creole
  • סיס אמריקניHebrew
  • čađasta čiopaCroatian
  • kéménysarlósfecskeHungarian
  • kémény-sarlósfecskeHungarian
  • HáfsvölungurIcelandic
  • Rondone dei caminiItalian
  • Rondone codaspinosa dei caminiItalian
  • エントツアマツバメJapanese
  • Bamanlyia̱Tyap
  • dūminė cheturaLithuanian
  • krantinis čiurlysLithuanian
  • skursteņu svīreLatvian
  • skorsteinsseilerNorwegian Bokmål
  • schoorsteengierzwaluwDutch
  • skorsteinsseglarNorwegian Nynorsk
  • Veloz di ChimeneaPapiamento
  • kominiarczyk amerykańskiPolish
  • Andorinhão-migrantePortuguese
  • andorinhão-de-rabo-espinhosoPortuguese
  • andorinhão-pelágicoPortuguese
  • andorinhão-peregrinoPortuguese
  • Rabo-espinhosoPortuguese
  • Дымчатый иглохвостRussian
  • MuvracihranNorthern Sami
  • srp torpédovitýSlovak
  • dážďovník komínovýSlovak
  • temni dimnikSlovenian
  • Američka čiopaSerbian
  • skorstenseglareSwedish
  • skorstensseglareSwedish
  • baca ebabiliTurkish
  • Amerika baca yeltutanıTurkish
  • Baca İğnekuyruğuTurkish
  • baca süpürücüTurkish
  • голкохвіст східнийUkrainian
  • 烟囱雨燕Chinese
  • 煙囟刺尾雨燕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

Relatives of the chimney swift

Other species in the same genus Chaetura.

LC, Least Concern

Chapman's swift

Chaetura chapmani

ApodidaeNo free photo yet

LC, Least Concern

Sick's swift

Chaetura meridionalis

ApodidaeNo free photo yet

CompareChimney swift vs Vaux's swiftChimney swift vs Short-tailed swiftChimney swift vs Chapman's swiftChimney swift vs Sick's swift

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the chimney swift?

An adult chimney swift weighs 23 g – 23.6 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the chimney swift endangered?

The chimney swift is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a high risk of extinction in the wild.

How long does the chimney swift live?

The chimney swift has a recorded lifespan of 14 years.

What kind of animal is the chimney swift?

The chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica) belongs to the family Apodidae in the order Apodiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/chimney-swift

MLA

“Chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/chimney-swift.

BibTeX
@misc{chimney_swift_2026,
  title = {Chimney swift (Chaetura pelagica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/chimney-swift},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}