Editing Chimney swift (section)

{{Short description|Species of bird}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Chimney swift
| image = Chaetura pelagica, by Lake Erie, Cleveland, Ohio, USA 339593191.jpg
| image_caption = Beside Lake Erie, Cleveland, Ohio, United States
| status = VU
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name=IUCN/>
| genus = Chaetura
| species = pelagica
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| range_map = Chimney Swift range.png
| range_map_caption = Range of chimney swift {{leftlegend|#ffd800|Breeding range|outline=gray}}{{leftlegend|#02007f|Wintering range|outline=gray}}
| range_map_alt = map of the Americas showing yellow over much of eastern North America and dark blue in northwestern South America
| synonyms = ''Hirundo pelagica'' <small>([[protonym]])</small><ref name = "Fieldiana"/><br/>
''Chaetura pelasgia'' <small>[[James Francis Stephens|Stephens]], 1825</small><ref name = "Fieldiana"/><ref>Stephens / [http://uio.mbl.edu/NZ/detail.php?uid=40230&d=1 Macquart; Dipt. exot., Suppl. 4, 271 (ex Mém. Soc. Sci. Lille, 1850 (1851), 244)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160412211542/http://uio.mbl.edu/NZ/detail.php?uid=40230&d=1 |date=2016-04-12 }}.</ref>
}}

The '''chimney swift''' ('''''Chaetura pelagica''''') is a [[bird]] belonging to the [[Swift (bird)|swift]] family Apodidae. A member of the genus ''Chaetura'', it is closely related to both [[Vaux's swift]] and [[Chapman's swift]]; in the past, the three were sometimes considered to be [[conspecific]]. It has no [[subspecies]]. The chimney swift is a medium-sized, sooty gray bird with very long, slender wings and very short legs. Like all swifts, it is incapable of perching on flat surfaces, and can only perch on vertical surfaces. Many fly around all day and only come down at night when roosting.

The chimney swift feeds primarily on flying insects, but also on airborne spiders. It generally mates for life. It builds a bracket nest of twigs and saliva stuck to a vertical surface, which is almost always a human-built structure, typically a chimney; historically (before European colonists built chimneys), they nested in hollow trees (including old [[pileated woodpecker]] nest holes), a few still do so, though only rarely.<ref name = "HBW443"/> The female lays {{nowrap|4–5 white}} eggs. The [[altricial]] young hatch after {{nowrap|19 days}} and fledge a month later. The average chimney swift lives {{nowrap|4.6 years}}.