Description
This is a small swift, with a length of 12 to 15 cm (4.7 to 5.9 in) and a wingspan of 27 to 30 cm (11 to 12 in). Its plumage is a dark sooty olive above and grayish brown below, with a slightly paler rump and uppertail coverts, and a significantly paler throat. In flight, this bird this species is often described as resembling a flying cigar due to its cylindrical body shape. It has long slender curved wings, with a wing chord length of 12.2 to 13.3 cm (4.8 to 5.2 in). They have short tails of 3.9 to 4.6 cm (1.5 to 1.8 in) in length. Chimney Swifts also have the shortest legs of any bird native to Ontario, with a tarsus length of 1.1 cm (0.43 in). Their bills are also extremely short, with a culmen of 0.5 cm (0.20 in). Weight can vary from 17 to 30 g (0.60 to 1.1 oz), with an average mass of 21.3 g (0.75 oz).
Read more about this topic: Chimney Swift
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“As they are not seen on their way down the streams, it is thought by fishermen that they never return, but waste away and die, clinging to rocks and stumps of trees for an indefinite period; a tragic feature in the scenery of the river bottoms worthy to be remembered with Shakespeare’s description of the sea-floor.”
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