Chapman's Swift

Chapman's swift is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 20.75 to 28 g (0.73 to 0.99 oz). It has a protruding head, a short square tail, and wings that bulge in the middle and somewhat hook at the end. The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has glossy black upperparts with a dark gray rump and uppertail coverts. Its underparts are entirely dark brown. Subspecies C. c. viridipennis is somewhat larger than the nominate; it has essentially the same plumage but almost no contrast between the gray rump and black back.

The nominate subspecies of Chapman's swift is found in Panama, western and northern Colombia, and northwestern Venezuela; separate from there in eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northeastern Brazil; and also on Trinidad. C. c. viridipennis is found in eastern Peru, eastern Bolivia, and western Amazonian Brazil. Undocumented sight records in Ecuador lead the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to list it as hypothetical in that country. Chapman's swift mainly inhabits tropical lowland evergreen forest, secondary forest, and secondary scrublands. It has been recorded feeding over coastal swamps and mangroves. In Colombia it ranges in elevation from sea level to 1,600 m (5,200 ft), in northern Venezuela to 600 m (2,000 ft), in southern Venezuela to 200 m (660 ft), and in Amazonian Brazil to about 800 m (2,600 ft).

Like all swifts, Chapman's is an aerial insectivore. It often feeds with other species of swift, but also in flocks of only its kind.