Guide to North American Birds
Family Swifts
This big swift is common and widespread in the American tropics, where it is often seen in large, noisy flocks over any kind of terrain. Stray individuals have wandered north of the Mexican border on several occasions, appearing at various points along the Gulf Coast and at scattered other locations from California to Michigan and Ontario.

Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
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Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds

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Songs and Calls

Twittering, scratchy “chee, chee, chee”.
Audio © Lang Elliott, Bob McGuire, Kevin Colver, Martyn Stewart and others.
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