CreatureData

Short-tailed swift

Chaetura brachyura (Jardine, 1846)

LCLeast Concernbirds

The short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura) is a species in the family Apodidae, order Apodiformes. Recorded adults weigh 18.3 g to 19.5 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura)
Photo: Hector Bottai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the short-tailed swift

Weight
18.3 g – 19.5 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
human_modifiedsrc for Habitat
Egg incubation
17.5 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch
3.7 – 4src for Young per litter or clutch
Litters or clutches a year
2src for Litters or clutches a year
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Sedentarysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the short-tailed swift live?

Not recorded

What is the short-tailed swift?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura) is a bird in the Apodidae, or swift family.

From the Wikipedia article “Short-tailed swift” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Short-tailed_swift&oldid=1379875421), 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.

What does the short-tailed swift sound like?

Niels Krabbe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Is the short-tailed swift endangered?

The short-tailed swift is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  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 Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

How is the short-tailed swift classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderApodiformes
  5. familyApodidae
  6. genusChaetura
  7. SpeciesChaetura brachyura (Jardine, 1846)

Synonyms Acanthylis brachyura

Other names and names in other languages (32)
  • سمامة قصيرة الذيلArabic
  • falciot cuaespinós de cua curtaCatalan
  • rorýs krátkoocasýCzech
  • coblyn cwtaWelsh
  • Korthalet TornhalesejlerDanish
  • StutzschwanzseglerGerman
  • kurtvosta apodoEsperanto
  • Vencejo rabónSpanish
  • Vencejo colicortoSpanish
  • Vencejo de Cola CortaSpanish
  • Vencejo pequeñoSpanish
  • nudi-kammsabaEstonian
  • lyhytpyrstökiitäjäFinnish
  • Martinet polioureFrench
  • svjetlorepa čiopaCroatian
  • csököttfarkú sarlósfecskeHungarian
  • Rondone codacortaItalian
  • タンビハリオアマツバメJapanese
  • trumpauodegė cheturaLithuanian
  • KortstaartgierzwaluwDutch
  • korthaleseilerNorwegian
  • kominiarczyk krótkosternyPolish
  • andorinhão-de-rabo-curtoPortuguese
  • andorinhão-de-cauda-curtaPortuguese
  • Короткохвостый иглохвостRussian
  • srp krátkochvostýSlovak
  • Kratkorepa čiopaSerbian
  • kortstjärtad seglareSwedish
  • Güdük İğnekuyrukTurkish
  • голкохвіст вохристогузийUkrainian
  • 短尾雨燕Chinese
  • 短刺尾雨燕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the short-tailed swift

Other species in the same genus Chaetura.

CompareShort-tailed swift vs Chimney swiftShort-tailed swift vs Vaux's swiftShort-tailed swift vs Chapman's swiftShort-tailed swift vs Sick's swift

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the short-tailed swift?

An adult short-tailed swift weighs 18.3 g – 19.5 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the short-tailed swift endangered?

The short-tailed swift is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

What kind of animal is the short-tailed swift?

The short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura) 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). Short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/short-tailed-swift

MLA

“Short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/short-tailed-swift.

BibTeX
@misc{short_tailed_swift_2026,
  title = {Short-tailed swift (Chaetura brachyura)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/short-tailed-swift},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}