CLIPBOARD : BREEDING BIRD: WHITE-THROATED SWIFT (Aeronautes saxatalis)

Description: Easily recognizable from other North American swifts by its white underparts and contrasting black side patches below the wings. Length is six to seven inches.

Habitat: Breeds mainly on coastal cliffs and canyons.

Diet: Aerial foraging, captures flying insects.

Displays: Mate in flight; pairs tumble together end-over-end as they copulate.

Nest: Built deep inside crack or crevice of a canyon wall; feathers glued together and to wall with saliva.

Eggs: Creamy white, unmarked; four-fifths of an inch in length.

Conservation: Site tenacity (a tendency to return to nest site or breeding colony) has been disrupted by increased housing development on coastal cliffs and canyon areas, forcing swifts to nest in cracks of building walls.

Voice: High-pitched jejejejejeje, in descending tones.

Breeding bird atlas: To report bird breeding activity in your neighborhood, or to get information on the breeding bird atlas, call Sea and Sage Audubon Society members Sylvia Gallagher, (714) 962-8990, or Nancy Kenyon, (714) 786-3160.

Note: Map is divided into 5-kilometer squares so that Audubon Society volunteers can more easily survey areas on a regular basis.

Sources: Sea and Sage Audubon Society; “The Birder’s Handbook,” Ehrlich, Dobkin and Wheye, Fireside Books (1988); “Field Guide to the Birds of North America,” National Geographic Society (1987); “Birds of Southern California: Status and Distribution,” Garrett and Dunn, Los Angeles Audubon Society (1981).