Bird
Chimney Swift
Chaetura pelagica
A summer resident that nests in Alabama. Found in all 67 counties, across 25 habitats.
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 25

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 67 counties
- Habitats
- 25
- Habitat models
- Summer
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Alabama 25
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.


Streams, rivers and their banks


Forests and open woodlands on dry ridges and slopes, often oak or pine.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.
Flat, poorly drained uplands and terraces with oaks, sweetgum and sometimes loblolly pine, wet in winter and dry in summer, but neither a floodplain nor a swamp.
Forests between dry and moist, often oak-hickory on slopes.
Forests on moist but not wet ground, such as rich slopes and ravines.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits


Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)




Open, wet, seepage-fed bogs of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills, often with pitcher plants.
Disturbed and introduced wetlands
Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.
Borders of forests, clearings and shrubby thickets.
Granite and other acidic rock outcrops
Bare or thin-soil rock on granite, gneiss, sandstone, quartzite and similar acidic rock, including granite flatrocks and domes.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.
Tree plantations and managed pine
Planted or intensively managed stands of pine or hardwoods grown for timber; a land use rather than a natural community.
Open, wet, grassy or sedgy ground that is not a bog.
Other habitats in its models (184)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Alabama. Those recorded in Alabama first, the rest by region.
Elsewhere in the South (99)
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Brownwater Stream Floodplain Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry and Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood and Mixed Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Brownwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Montane Oak Forest Summer.
- Central and Southern Appalachian Northern Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Atlantic Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer.
- East-Central Texas Plains Post Oak Savanna and Woodland Summer.
- East-Central Texas Plains Riparian Forest Summer.
- Edwards Plateau Limestone Savanna and Woodland Summer.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Dry Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Peninsula Inland Scrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Louisiana Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Flatwoods Summer.
- Mississippi Delta Maritime Forest Summer.
- Mississippi River Alluvial Plain Dry-Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer.
- Mississippi River Bottomland Depression Summer.
- Mississippi River Low Floodplain (Bottomland) Forest Summer.
- Mississippi River Riparian Forest Summer.
- Ouachita Montane Oak Forest Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry Oak Woodland Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Riparian Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Bluestem Woodland Summer.
- Ozark-Ouachita Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- Red River Large Floodplain Forest Summer.
- South Florida Bayhead Swamp Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Cypress Dome Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Dwarf Cypress Savanna Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Freshwater Slough and Gator Hole Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Hardwood Hammock Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Mangrove Swamp Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Pine Rockland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Bog and Fen Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Cove Forest Summer.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest Summer.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Montane Cliff Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Rocky Summit Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer.
- Southwest Florida Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Calcareous Thornscrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Mixed Deciduous Thornscrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Catahoula Barrens Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Chenier and Upper Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nepheline Syenite Glade Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Nonriverine Wet Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Calcareous Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Pine-Hardwood Forest Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Sandhill Oak and Shortleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Forest Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Calcareous Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Forest and Woodland Summer.
- West Gulf Coastal Plain Wet Longleaf Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Western Great Plains Mesquite Woodland and Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Northeast (13)
- Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Appalachian Hemlock-Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer.
- Central Appalachian Oak and Pine Forest Summer.
- Central Appalachian Pine-Oak Rocky Woodland Summer.
- North-Central Appalachian Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest Summer.
- Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dry Hardwood Forest Summer.
Midwest (12)
- Central Interior Acidic Cliff and Talus Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Interior Calcareous Cliff and Talus Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Mixedgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Beech-Maple Forest Summer.
- North-Central Interior Dry Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- North-Central Interior Dry-Mesic Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- North-Central Interior Maple-Basswood Forest Summer.
- North-Central Interior Oak Savanna Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Interior Sand and Gravel Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- North-Central Oak Barrens Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Wooded Draw and Ravine Summer, beside its main habitat.
West (1)
- Southern Colorado Plateau Sand Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
Land cover and other classes (59)
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Blackwater Stream Floodplain Forest - Forest Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Forested Wetland Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-Line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Fall-line Sandhills Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Oak Dominated Modifier Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Nonriverine Swamp and Wet Hardwood Forest - Taxodium/Nyssa Modifier Summer.
- Central Appalachian Riparian - Forest Modifier Summer.
- Developed, High Intensity Summer.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Woodland Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Shortleaf Pine-Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Loblolly Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Interior Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland - Scrub/Shrub Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Offsite Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Plain Oak-Hickory Upland - Juniper Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Eastern Highland Rim Prairie and Barrens - Dry Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- Florida Longleaf Pine Sandhill - Scrub/Shrub Understory Modifier Summer.
- Harvested Forest - Grass/Forb Regeneration Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Annual Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Forbland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Perennial Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Introduced Upland Vegetation - Treed Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Lower Mississippi River Bottomland Depressions - Forest Modifier Summer.
- Mississippi River Floodplain and Riparian Forest Summer.
- Modified/Managed Southern Tall Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest - Virginia/Pitch Pine Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Northeastern Interior Dry Oak Forest-Hardwood Modifier Summer.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Quarries, Mines, Gravel Pits and Oil Wells Summer.
- Recently Burned Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Recently Burned Shrubland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern and Central Appalachian Oak Forest - Xeric Summer.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Grass and Shrub Bald - Shrub Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-(Pine) Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
- Southern Piedmont Dry Oak-Heath Forest - Mixed Modifier Summer.
- Tamaulipan Mesquite Upland Scrub Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Tamaulipan Riparian Systems Summer.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Western Great Plains Floodplain Systems Summer.
Seasons in Alabama
- Summer: nests here, in all 67 counties.
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Alabama, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.
Chimney Swift uses many habitats in Alabama; these are its 3 most characteristic.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Birds 89
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Wilson's WarblerWilsonia pusilla
- Worm-eating WarblerHelmitheros vermivorum
- American WoodcockScolopax minor
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
Plants 418
- Elliott's BlueberryVaccinium elliottii
- White Panicled Aster; Eastern Lined AsterSymphyotrichum lanceolatum var. latifolium
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Appalachian Orange ConeflowerRudbeckia umbrosa
- Rudbeckia fulgida var. spathulataRudbeckia spathulata
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Southern Shagbark HickoryCarya carolinae-septentrionalis
- Spruce Pine; Walters Pine; Cedar PinePinus glabra
- Spreading SedgeCarex laxiculmis
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Smooth Hedge-nettleStachys tenuifolia
Dry forests and woodlands
Birds 66
- Blackburnian WarblerDendroica fusca
- Red CrossbillLoxia curvirostra
- Red-cockaded WoodpeckerPicoides borealis
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Blue-headed VireoVireo solitarius
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Pine WarblerDendroica pinus
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Worm-eating WarblerHelmitheros vermivorum
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Bachman's SparrowAimophila aestivalis
Plants 224
- Chestnut OakQuercus montana
- Georgia OakQuercus georgiana
- American ChestnutCastanea dentata
- Boynton's OakQuercus boyntonii
- White ThoroughwortEupatorium album
- Sessileleaf Tick-trefoilDesmodium sessilifolium
- Painted SedgeCarex picta
- Ernests SpiderwortTradescantia ernestiana
- Leavenworth's SedgeCarex leavenworthii
- Southern Whitetinge SedgeCarex albicans var. australis
- Southern LoosestrifeSteironema tonsa
- Alabama SkullcapScutellaria alabamensis
Swamps
Birds 87
- Eurasian WigeonAnas penelope
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Ruddy TurnstoneArenaria interpres
- Magnolia WarblerDendroica magnolia
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Reddish EgretEgretta rufescens
- Tricolored HeronEgretta tricolor
- AnhingaAnhinga anhinga
- Broad-winged HawkButeo platypterus
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
- Kentucky WarblerOporornis formosus
- RedheadAythya americana
Plants 327
- Black Highbush BlueberryVaccinium fuscatum
- Dahoon HollyIlex cassine
- May HawthornCrataegus aestivalis
- Carolina AshFraxinus caroliniana
- Dense-flower SmartweedPersicaria densiflora
- Swamp TupeloNyssa biflora
- Water HickoryCarya aquatica
- Bent SedgeCarex styloflexa
- Collins's SedgeCarex collinsii
- Cypress-swamp SedgeCarex joorii
- Dark-green SedgeCarex venusta
- Fringed SedgeCarex crinita
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP summer habitat model for Chimney Swift
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)



















































