Chimney swift migration Chaetura pelagica
▶ Follow the chimney swift across the big globe
Press ▶ to play the year. Line: a simplified typical route, joining the main cluster of GBIF records in each month (adjusted for observer effort).
| Scientific name | Chaetura pelagica |
|---|---|
| Adult weight | 23.6 g (adult) |
| IUCN status | Vulnerable |
| Records mapped | 3,869,303 (GBIF) |
| GPS / geolocator tracks | none with an open licence yet |
Facts from Wikidata Q912863 (CC0).
Migration in the data
3,869,303 GBIF records (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 licences only) are mapped here, in 1.41° grid cells, month by month.
In the Americas, the centre of the records (adjusted for observer effort) is furthest north in August (about 38°N) and furthest south in December (about 14°S).
More than half of the effort-adjusted signal there is south of the Equator in: January, February, December.
Month by month: centre of records in the Americas
| Month | Centre (latitude) | South of the Equator |
|---|---|---|
| January | 8°S | 87% |
| February | 2°S | 56% |
| March | 26°N | 5% |
| April | 33°N | 0% |
| May | 37°N | 0% |
| June | 38°N | 0% |
| July | 38°N | 0% |
| August | 38°N | 0% |
| September | 36°N | 0% |
| October | 34°N | 0% |
| November | 6°N | 40% |
| December | 14°S | 90% |
Tracked birds
No openly licensed (CC0 / CC BY) tracking data package for this species was found in the Movebank Data Repository yet, so only records are shown.
About the chimney swift
The chimney swift is a bird belonging to the swift family Apodidae. A member of the genus Chaetura, it is closely related to both Vaux's swift and Chapman's swift; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be conspecific. It has no subspecies. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. …
From the Wikipedia article “Chimney swift” (revision 1380658680), CC BY-SA 4.0.
Sources
GBIF occurrence records, licence CC0 1.0 or CC BY 4.0 only, observations only (no specimens), filtered with: taxonKey=4409023&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&hasGeospatialIssue=false&basisOfRecord=HUMAN_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=MACHINE_OBSERVATION&basisOfRecord=OBSERVATION. Monthly queries: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec. GBIF.org (23 October 2026) occurrence data accessed via the GBIF API; a GBIF download DOI is still to be added. Contributing datasets.