Pacific swift

bird of eastern Asia

The Pacific swift (Apus pacificus) is a bird in the Swift family (Apodidae). It has four subspecies. The number of pacific swifts is unknown. They live in East Asia and Oceania.[1]

Pacific swift
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family: Apodidae
Genus: Apus (genus)
Species:
A. pacificus
Binomial name
Apus pacificus
(Latham, 1801)[2]
   Breeding range
   Breeding range of three former subspecies
   Non-breeding
(ranges are approximate)

This bird is medium-sized. its body is 18 to 21 cm long and it is 40-42 cm wide from wingtip to wingtip. Its feathers are mostly black, but it has a band of white feathers on its rear end. Its tail is forked, or split into two pieces. It can fly at least 300 m up in the air. It looks for food over open areas, towns, grasslands or even sand dunes near the ocean. It eats insects that it catches in the air.[3]

Distribution

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The pacific swft has a large range of nearly 10 million square kilometers (3.8 million square miles).[4] These birds live throughout the eastern Asia from the Ob River northeast to Kamchatka and east to the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin and Japan.[5]

References

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  1. 1.0 1.1 BirdLife International (2016). "Pacific swift: Apus pacificus". 2019. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: e.T22686845A155438660. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22686845A155438660.en. Retrieved August 17, 2021. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "Apus pacificus". ITIS. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  3. "Apus pacificus — Fork-tailed Swift". Australian Government: Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment. Retrieved August 17, 2021.
  4. "Fork-tailed Swift Apus pacificus". Species factsheet. BirdLife International. Archived from the original on 31 October 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  5. Chantler & Driessens (2000) pp. 235–237.