CreatureData

Sick's swift

Chaetura meridionalis Hellmayr, 1907

LCLeast Concernbirds

The sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis) is a species in the family Apodidae, order Apodiformes. Recorded adults weigh 21.7 g to 22.2 g. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis)
Photo: Hector Bottai · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the sick's swift

Weight
21.7 g – 22.2 gsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Diet
Invertivoresrc for Diet
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
forestsrc for Habitat
Young per litter or clutch
3.75src for Young per litter or clutch
Lifestyle
Aerialsrc for Lifestyle
Migration
Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the sick's swift live?

Not recorded

What is the sick's swift?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis) is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It was previously considered conspecific with the smaller ashy-tailed swift, but a study published in 1997 found that Sick's swift was closer to the chimney swift. The English name commemorates the German-born ornithologist Helmut Sick who studied South American birds. It is a migratory species that breeds in central South America and overwinters in northern South America. The IUCN has listed it as being of "Least Concern".

From the Wikipedia article “Sick's swift” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sick%27s_swift&oldid=1379851614), 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 sick's swift endangered?

The sick's 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 sick's swift classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classAves
  4. orderApodiformes
  5. familyApodidae
  6. genusChaetura
  7. SpeciesChaetura meridionalis Hellmayr, 1907

Synonyms Chaetura andrei meridionalis, Chaetura meridionalis meridionalis

Other names and names in other languages (36)
  • Ashy-tailed swiftEnglish
  • Ashy-tailed swiftEnglish
  • Southern swiftEnglish
  • Southern swiftEnglish
  • سمامة سيكArabic
  • falciot cuaespinós meridionalCatalan
  • rorýs stěhovavýCzech
  • Sick´ TornhalesejlerDanish
  • Gråhalet TornhalesejlerDanish
  • SickseglerGerman
  • GrauschwanzseglerGerman
  • Sicks-SeglerGerman
  • grizvosta apodoEsperanto
  • Vencejo de TormentaSpanish
  • lõuna-kammsabaEstonian
  • tuhkakiitäjäFinnish
  • Martinet de SickFrench
  • pepeljastorepa čiopaCroatian
  • Rondone di SickItalian
  • Rondone di SixkItalian
  • ノドジロタンビハリオアマツバメJapanese
  • Sikso cheturaLithuanian
  • Sicks GierzwaluwDutch
  • askeseilerNorwegian
  • kominiarczyk popielatosternyPolish
  • andorinhão-de-sickPortuguese
  • andorinhão-do-temporalPortuguese
  • Иглохвост СикаRussian
  • Бразильский иглохвостRussian
  • srp sadzovýSlovak
  • sydseglareSwedish
  • sickseglareSwedish
  • Güney İğnekuyruğuTurkish
  • голкохвіст південнийUkrainian
  • 西氏雨燕Chinese
  • 席克氏刺尾雨燕Chinese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistTAXREFWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the sick's swift

Other species in the same genus Chaetura.

CompareSick's swift vs Chimney swiftSick's swift vs Vaux's swiftSick's swift vs Short-tailed swiftSick's swift vs Chapman's swift

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the sick's swift?

An adult sick's swift weighs 21.7 g – 22.2 g, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Is the sick's swift endangered?

The sick's 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 sick's swift?

The sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis) 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). Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/sicks-swift

MLA

“Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/sicks-swift.

BibTeX
@misc{sicks_swift_2026,
  title = {Sick's swift (Chaetura meridionalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/sicks-swift},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}