Vaux’s swift is a small, gray, cigar-shaped predator of flying insects that is most often seen high overhead in flocks. Aerodynamically designed for fast flight, swifts have long, sickle-shaped wings and appear to be tailless. Unlike swallows that have a gliding flight pattern, swifts appear to fly with alternating wing beats, in a “twinkling” flight style. Their call is a high, thin “chipping” sound. Vaux’s swift, a forest dweller that prefers old growth conifer and deciduous forests, builds a small stick nest in hollow trees that may be alive or dead. Their short, stiff tails help them cling to vertical walls around their nests. They are communal roosters, and may be seen in large flocks, spiraling into their roost cavities at nightfall.

This bird’s winter range extends from central Mexico to Venezuela. In the Wenatchee River Watershed, look for Vaux’s swift spring and summer in small to large flocks foraging over rivers and streams, especially in the evening.