White-throated swift

White-throated swift
Spokane County, Washington
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae
Genus: Aeronautes
Species: A. saxatalis
Binomial name
Aeronautes saxatalis
(Woodhouse, 1853)
Subspecies

Aeronautes saxatalis nigrior
Aeronatues saxatalis saxatalis

The white-throated swift (Aeronautes saxatalis) is a swift of the family Apodidae native to western North America, south to cordilleran western Honduras. It is migratory, and travels to the southern part of its range in winter, as far north along the Pacific coast as the Californian Central Valley; inland its range extends throughout the Great Basin region to extreme southern British Columbia.

Reaching a length of 16.5 cm (6.5 in), with a wingspan of 35.5 cm (14.0 in), the white-throated swift is distinguished from other North American swifts by the whitish throat patch, which extends down to the belly. The upperparts, belly, and sides of the breast are black, and the underwings are gray.

Like all swifts, white-throated swifts use their short legs only for clinging onto vertical surfaces or wires, and never land on the ground voluntarily.

References

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Aeronautes saxatalis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aeronautes saxatalis.
Wikispecies has information related to: Aeronautes saxatalis



This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, November 02, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.