Pygmy Palm Swift Tachornis furcata Scientific name definitions
Text last updated February 17, 2015
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Species names in all available languages
Language | Common name |
---|---|
Catalan | falciot de les palmeres cuaforcat |
Czech | rorýs drobný |
Dutch | Dwerggierzwaluw |
English | Pygmy Palm Swift |
English (United States) | Pygmy Palm Swift |
French | Martinet pygmée |
French (France) | Martinet pygmée |
German | Däumlingssegler |
Japanese | ヒメエンビアマツバメ |
Norwegian | zuliaseiler |
Polish | widłogończyk mały |
Russian | Карликовый стрижик |
Serbian | Patuljasta palmina čiopa |
Slovak | dážďovník krpatý |
Spanish | Vencejillo Venezolano |
Spanish (Spain) | Vencejillo venezolano |
Spanish (Venezuela) | Vencejo Enano |
Swedish | dvärgpalmseglare |
Turkish | Venezüela Palmiye Ebabili |
Ukrainian | Серпокрилець-крихітка колумбійський |
Tachornis furcata (Sutton, 1928)
Definitions
- TACHORNIS
- furcata
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Introduction
The Pygmy Swift is a tiny brown-and-white swift with a deeply forked tail. There are two subspecies described within the Pygmy Swift's limited range in northern Venezuela; T. f. furcata and T. f. nigrodorsalis. Mainly found in tropical, lowland, evergreen forest and second-growth scrub, the Pygmy Swift spends most of the day on the wing in search of flying insects. Like the closely related Antillean Palm-swift, the Pygmy Swift is often found using royal palms for nesting and roosting. Despite its restricted range, the Pygmy Swift's population is believed to be stable, and consequently has not been placed on any threatened species lists; however, better study of the population's structure and stability is needed.
Field Identification
Systematics History
Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.
Previously placed in a monospecific genus, Micropanyptila; alternatively, has on occasion been separated in Reinarda with T. squamata. Two subspecies recognized.Subspecies
Tachornis furcata furcata Scientific name definitions
Distribution
Tachornis furcata furcata (Sutton, 1928)
Definitions
- TACHORNIS
- furcata
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Tachornis furcata nigrodorsalis Scientific name definitions
Distribution
Tachornis furcata nigrodorsalis (Aveledo H & Pons, 1952)
Definitions
- TACHORNIS
- furcata
- nigrodorsalis
The Key to Scientific Names
Legend Overview
Distribution
Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.
Habitat
Movement
Diet and Foraging
Sounds and Vocal Behavior
Calls around colony a buzzy “bee-beez-beez-beez-be-be-be”, accelerating and trailing off (1).
Breeding
Pair collected at nest-site in late Jul, Catatumbo lowlands, Colombia (2). In Venezuela, nests with young recorded in Feb (1) and Jul, and also a number of active nests in Jan (3). Nests are bag-like structures, made of feathers glued together with salivary cement and attached near the central rib on the underside of hanging frond of a palm tree (including Roystonea sp., Copernicia sp. and Cocus nucifera), the entrance to the nest chamber being from below, along the central rib of the palm frond (3).
Conservation Status
Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Restricted-range species: present in Caribbean Colombia and Venezuela EBA. Regularly encountered in Jan 1995 throughout the SE Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela, in a variety of habitats including cleared pastures, cropland, open forest and rural towns; as it was recorded at nearly all previously known sites and many additional ones, often in close proximity to human activities and potential sources of disturbance, it appears that it is not a rare bird and currently does not require special status or conservation efforts (4).