A review of the distribution and status of Pygmy Palm-Swift Micropanyptila furcata in Venezuela

Abstract

Pygmy Palm-Swift Micropanyptila furcata is endemic to the Maracaibo Basin of Venezuela and Colombia. Described by Sutton in 1928, it is still known only from < 30 museum specimens from seven localities, leading it to be included in the first edition of the bird Red Data Book, but not subsequent editions. During a field survey in January 1995 we regularly encountered this species throughout the south-eastern Maracaibo Basin in Venezuela, at elevations from 30 m to 800 m. We found them in a variety of habitats including cleared pastures, cropland, open forest and rural towns, and observed them near mature cultivated palms, which represented nesting and roosting substrates. Pygmy Palm-Swifts foraged in small groups immediately above the treetops and over grass savannah. As we recorded them at nearly all previously known sites and many additional ones, often in close proximity to human activities and potential sources of disturbance, we suggest that it is not a rare bird and currently does not require special status or conservation efforts.