Vaux's Swift
(Chaetura vauxi)

Overview

Summary

© Peter La Tourette
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The Vaux’s Swift breeds in the mountains of western North America and winters primarily in Central America. In addition, a resident population lives in Central America and northern Venezuela year-round (Bull and Collins 2007). The species is not well monitored anywhere in its range; Breeding Bird Survey data indicate a large decrease in population size in Canada since 1973, but the status assessment has low reliability. Conservation concerns for the species centre on its preference for nesting in large hollow trees, an increasingly rare feature in forests and woodlands. This species has been identified as a priority for conservation and/or stewardship in one or more Bird Conservation Region Strategies in Canada.

Designations

Population status

Population estimate

Distribution maps

• BirdLife International / NatureServe
• Breeding Bird Survey (BBS): Relative Abundance and Breeding Distribution (1993-2012)

Migration strategy, occurrence

Responsibility for conservation of world population

Conservation and management

Unlike its close relative the Chimney Swift, the Vaux's Swift still nests and roosts primarily in large, hollow trees, particularly red cedar and cottonwood (Bull and Collins 2007). These have become rare over the past century, which may be limiting the swifts' breeding opportunities (Bull and Collins 2007). The Vaux's Swift is one of several species of aerial insectivores (birds that catch flying insects) showing widespread declines in Canada. Causes of these declines remain unclear, but changes in aerial insect populations have been suggested as one possible common factor as well as landscape changes, the effects of insecticides on prey, and climate change (Blancher et al. 2009, Nebel et al. 2010).

Bird conservation region strategies

Environment and Climate Change Canada and partners have developed Bird Conservation Region Strategies in each of Canada’s Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs). In these strategies, selected species are identified as priorities for one or more of the following reasons:

• conservation concerns (i.e., species vulnerable due to population size, distribution, population trend, abundance, or threats)
• stewardship responsibilities (i.e., species that typify the regional avifauna or have a large proportion of their range or population in the sub-region)
• management concerns (i.e., species that require ongoing management because of their socio-economic importance as game species, or because of their impacts on other species or habitats)
• other concerns (i.e., species deemed a priority by regional experts for other reasons than those listed above or because they are listed as species at risk or concern at the provincial level)

Select any of the sub-regions below to view the BCR strategy for additional details.

References

• Blancher, P.J., R.D. Phoenix, D.S. Badzinski, M.D. Cadman, T.L. Crewe, C.M. Downes, D. Fillman, C.M. Francis, J. Hughes, D.J.T. Hussell, D. Lepage, J.D. McCracken, D.K. McNicol, B.A. Pond, R.K. Ross, R. Russell, L.A. Venier and R.C. Weeber. 2009. Population trend status of Ontario’s forest birds. The Forestry Chronicle 85(2):184-201.
• Bull, E.L. and C.T. Collins. 2007. Vaux’s Swift (Chaetura vauxi), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Bull, E.L. and C.T. Collins. 2007. Vaux’s Swift (Chaetura vauxi), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. (Link)
• Nebel, S., A.M. Mills, J.D. McCracken and P.D. Taylor. 2010. Declines of aerial insectivores in North America follow a geographic gradient. Avian Conservation and Ecology 5(2): 1. Nebel, S., A.M. Mills, J.D. McCracken and P.D. Taylor. 2010. Declines of aerial insectivores in North America follow a geographic gradient. Avian Conservation and Ecology 5(2): 1. (Link)