Sick's Swift

The upperparts dark smoky brown. The tail is ashy grey with dark shafts and protruding spines, The throat is grey, lower underparts dark brown, bill and legs black.

It breeds in south-eastern Brazil and adjacent parts of Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia, but is believed to spend the Austral winter further north in the Amazon basin, northern South America and Panama. Its exact wintering range is, however, poorly known due to the highly complex matter of field identification of a number of very similar Chaetura swifts found in central and northern South America. In addition to the previously mentioned countries, there are records from Colombia, Venezuela, Suriname and French Guiana. It is generally common, but confirmed records outside its breeding range (where it is the only large Chaetura swift, and therefore relatively easy to identify) are infrequent. Its preferred habitat is lowland evergreen forest edge, secondary forest, open woodland and second-growth scrub but it can be seen flying over virtually any habitat during its annual migration.

Sick's swift feeds in flight on flying insects. It often flies low over roads or clearings in the morning or evening, rising high above the forest, often with other swifts, in the middle of the day.