Notes on the Horus Swift

Harwin, R. M.

doi:10.1080/00306525.1960.9632646

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Also Cupseloides semicollaris lays its eggs on sandy ledges in caves ( Rowley and Orr, 1962) and zonaris was once suspected of nesting in burrows in a cliff in Guatemala ( Anthony, in Griscom, 1932:194), certainly an atypical site for any New World swift. In Africa, however, Apus horus ( Heuglin) characteristically nests in the deserted burrows of bee-eaters and swallows ( Harwin, 1960;Steyn, 1966). Cypseloides rutilus.-In the first description of a rutilus nest, Orton ( 1871) states ones in Colombia were "chiefly of moss, very compact and shallow and located in dark culverts about two feet above the water."…”

Section: Nests Of the Genus Cupseloidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Comparative Biology of Two Species of Swifts in Trinidad, West Indies

Collins

1968

FLMNH

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The comparative biology of the short-tailed swift, Chaetura brachyura, and the chestnut-collared swift, Cypseloides rutilus, was studied in Trinidad during parts of 1962-66. In many aspects both species proved similar to congeners for which information exists. Both breed during the rainy season when insect food is abundant, but their breeding activities are triggered by different proximate factors. Ch. brachyura lays a clutch averaging 3.8 eggs in nests of twigs cemented to the walls of manholes. Cyp. rutilus lays a clutch of 2 eggs in nests of mosses, lycopsids, and ferns built on rocky outcrops over rivers and mountain streams, and occasionally in sea caves. The environmental temperature of nest sites of rutilus is lower than for those of brachyura, and the nestlings of rutilus are brooded longer and more continuously than nestlings of brachyura. Cyp. rutilus has a lower mortality of eggs and young than brachyura, its nest sites being presumably less accessible to predators. The young of brachyura grow more rapidly than those of rutilus, but both species perfect their capacity for thermoregulation at about the same rate. In rutilus, a down-like semiplume portion of its first teleoptile plumage emerges at an early age and aids in thermoregulation. The young of brachyura leave the nest when about 3 weeks old and hang on the walls of the nest cavity until they fledge at the age of 4-5 weeks; rutilus young remain in the nest until they fledge at 5-6 weeks. These two swifts appear to feed on the same types and sizes of aerial food, but their foraging ranges only partially overlap; rutilus feeds at higher elevations than brachyura and to some extent at higher altitudes. The differences in foraging ranges may enable them to avoid interspecific competition for food. Similar adaptations seem to be present in other species of swifts. Most of the differences in the biology of these two species of swift are associated with reproduction and reflect adaptations by rutilus to the cool, damp environment of the nest site.

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Section: Nests Of the Genus Cupseloidesmentioning

confidence: 99%