Chapman's Swift (Chaetura chapmani) Dutch text English text Vogels in Suriname/Birds in Suriname




Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
Chaetura chapmani, Chapman
© Carl Beel

Chaetura chapmani, Chapman
© Martin Reid

Chaetura chapmani, Chapman
© Martin Reid

Chaetura chapmani, Chapman
© Martin Reid

Chaetura chapmani, Chapman
© Martin Reid

 



Chapman's Swift, seen by Carl Beel above the Brownsberg in October 2011. A group of some ten birds were circling together with some Band-rumped swift. Carl writes that in the sun they looked rather brown, with paler chin and upperpart of the breast. The sound of the Chapman's swift was taped by Otte Ottema in the Bakhuys area in May 2006.



Birdsounds (click on them to listen)
Sound recording of a Chapman's Swift
© Otte Ottema, bird guide
   


Distribution




Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :

A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone.
Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.



Names
Scientific name: Chaetura chapmani
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae, 10 in Suriname
Dutch: Chapmans Gierzwaluw
English: Chapman's Swift
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela): Vencejo de Chapman
Portugese (Brazil): Andorinhão-de-chapman
Arowak:
Carib:
French: Martinet de Chapman


Observations through the year Observations of breeding through the year
The 85 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced. The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.


Fatbirder's Top 1000 Birding Websites Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).