Conservation Status and Threats
Their population may have increased historically with the introduction of large chimneys as nesting locations. With suitable man-made habitat becoming less common, their numbers are declining in some areas. They were listed as Threatened by COSEWIC for several years with a likely listing of the species on Schedule 1 of the Species at Risk Act.
Various bird-eating raptors are known to take adult Chimney Swifts in flight, and the Black Rat Snake has been recorded eating nestlings.
The Chimney Swift carries a number of internal and external parasites. It is the type host for the nematode species Aproctella nuda and the biting lice species Dennyus dubius. Its nest is known to host the Hemiptera species Cimexopsis nyctali, which is similar to the bedbug and can (on rare occasions) become a pest species in houses.
Read more about this topic: Chimney Swift
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