Order Apodiformes / Hummingbirds and Swifts

These tiny and fast flying birds are easy to recognize based on the following traits:

• Most of the birds in this order are either small or very small.
• The Latin name of these birds translates as “footless” because most of the species in the order have small, underdeveloped feet, suitable mostly for perching, not walking.
• The legs of both hummingbirds and swifts have no scales, only skin.
• Apodiformes have unique wing structure with short arm bones long finger bones.
• Hummingbirds rely on hovering flight and have powerful muscles.
• Swifts rely more on the gliding flight and have slightly different wing structure.
• Many species in this order have a long, forked tail that is crucial for steering the flight.
• Hummingbirds have bright-colored plumage predominantly, while swifts are mostly colored black, grey or brown.
• Hummingbirds have a very short gut and have an extremely high number of erythrocytes that help bring oxygen to muscles.
• Hummingbirds depend on nectar as a food source. Their beaks are highly specialized for that purpose.
Suggested Reading: What do hummingbirds eat?
• Hummingbirds are known as American birds and are spread from South America to Alaska, except the most northern regions.
• On the other hand, swifts have different adaptations and diet.
• These birds rely on plankton in the air and are carnivorous.
• Unlike hummingbirds, swifts are spread around the whole planet except the Arctic and Antarctic.
• Hummingbirds are solitary birds, while swifts can form large colonies.
• Both hummingbirds and swifts have cup-like nests and lay around one or two small eggs.
• The young chicks hatch naked and blind and develop in their nests for a long time.
• Approximately a tenth of the species in this order is threatened and endangered in some way.

Let us look at the variety of the species in Apodiformes order:

• Amethyst Woodstar, Calliphlox amethystina
• Andean Emerald, Agyrtria franciae
• Black Inca, Coeligena prunellei
• Copper-Tailed Hummingbird, Saucerottia cupreicauda
• Green Mango, Anthracothorax viridis
• Magnificent hummingbird, Eugenes fulgens
• Jamaican Mango, Anthracothorax mango
• Puerto Rican Emerald, Riccordia maugaeus
• Spot-fronted swift, Cypseloides cherriei
• Sooty swift, Cypseloides fumigatus
• Rotschild’s swift, Cypseloides rothschildi
• Indian swiftlet, Aerodramus unicolor