Order
Caprimulgiformes
Family
Apodidae
Genus
Tachornis
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Antillean Palm-Swift Tachornis phoenicobia

Omyia Damaj
Version: 1.0 — Published November 14, 2014

Behavior

Introduction

Antillean Palm-Swift spend the majority of their time on the wing, presumably foraging for insects in flight. Other than this general information, little about its behavior is known. The flight is described as "very rapid, erratic [and] bat-like, gliding between flapping spurts" (Raffaele et al. 1998). They primarily forage over vegetation, low near the ground (no higher than 20 m; Raffaele et al. 1998), but Wetmore observed a "swarm of these little birds" darting in and out of a tannery under a "long shed-like structure", where he surmised the swifts were feeding on the many flies attracted by the tannery.

Territoriality

Little information. Antillean Palm-Swifts are colonial breeders, nesting in colonies of up to 30 pairs (Wetmore and Lincoln 1933), so presumably any territorial behavior is expressed only in a very small area. There is no information on home range size for Antillean Palm-Swift.

Sexual Behavior

Undescribed; presumably is at least socially monogamous.

Social and interspecific behavior

Antillean Palm-Swift usually forages in small single species groups, but sometimes associates with swallows, Caribbean Martin (Progne dominicensis) and Cave Swalllow (Petrochelidon fulva) (Kepler 1971).

Predation

No reports of predation on Antillean Palm-Swift?

Recommended Citation

Damaj, O. (2014). Antillean Palm-Swift (Tachornis phoenicobia), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.anpswi.01