Bird
Chimney Swift
Chaetura pelagica
A summer resident that nests in Virginia. Found in all 133 counties and cities, across 27 habitats.
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 27

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Summer
- Nesting
- Nests here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 27
- Habitat models
- Summer
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 27
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.
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.
High mountain forests of beech, yellow birch and sugar maple, including boulderfield forests.
Flat, sandy Coastal Plain pine woodlands, wetter than sandhills and denser than savannas.
Open, fire-kept longleaf pine stands over grasses and wildflowers on wet to moist sandy soil.
Cliffs, ledges and rocky summits


Granite and other acidic rock outcrops

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)
Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.
Depression ponds and limesinks
Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.
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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.
Treeless grassy or shrubby summits and ridges in the high mountains.
Wet, open, peaty mountain wetlands fed by seepage, often with sphagnum moss.
Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.
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.
Other habitats in its models (185)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia. Those recorded in Virginia first, the rest by region.
In Virginia 2
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Upland Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer.
- North-Central Appalachian Circumneutral Cliff and Talus Summer, beside its main habitat.
Elsewhere in the South (106)
- 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 Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Small Blackwater 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 Wet Pine Savanna and Flatwoods Summer.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central and South Texas Coastal Fringe Forest and Woodland Summer.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Seep Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Central Florida Pine Flatwoods Summer.
- Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens Summer.
- Crosstimbers Oak Forest and Woodland Summer.
- Cumberland Riverscour Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dry Chalk Bluff Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Limestone Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Loess Bluff Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Northern Mesic Hardwood Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Small Stream and River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loblolly-Hardwood Flatwoods Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Loess Bluff Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Mesic Slope Forest Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp 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 Panhandle Beach Vegetation 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.
- Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Summer, beside its main habitat.
- 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.
- South-Central Interior / Upper Coastal Plain Wet Flatwoods Summer.
- Southeast Florida Beach Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeastern Great Plains Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southeastern Interior Longleaf Pine Woodland Summer.
- Southern Appalachian Granitic Dome Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Appalachian Rocky Summit Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Blackland Tallgrass Prairie Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Blackwater River Floodplain Forest Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Dry Upland Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Herbaceous Seepage Bog Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Oak Dome and Hammock Summer.
- Southern Crowley's Ridge Mesic Loess Slope Forest Summer.
- Southern Interior Acid Cliff Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry-Mesic Oak 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 (3)
- Acadian Low-Elevation Spruce-Fir-Hardwood Forest Summer.
- Central Appalachian Alkaline Glade and Woodland Summer.
- North-Central Interior Wet Flatwoods 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 (61)
- Arkansas Valley Prairie and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- 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 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.
- Central Interior and Appalachian Shrub-Herbaceous Wetland Systems Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Developed, High Intensity Summer.
- Developed, Low Intensity Summer.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Black Belt Calcareous Prairie and Woodland - Herbaceous Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- 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 Jackson Plain Dry Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Jackson Prairie and Woodland Summer, beside its main habitat.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Large River Floodplain Forest - Forest 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 Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Open Understory Modifier Summer.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Pine Flatwoods - Scrub/Shrub Understory 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 Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Bay/Gum Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Clethra Modifier Summer.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Summer, beside its main habitat.
- Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Taxodium 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 Virginia
- Summer: nests here, in all 133 counties and cities.
Also found in its main habitats
Its main habitats in Virginia, 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 Virginia; these are its 3 most characteristic.
Floodplain and bottomland forests
Birds 87
- Lincoln's SparrowMelospiza lincolnii
- Snowy OwlBubo scandiacus
- Willow FlycatcherEmpidonax traillii
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- Northern WaterthrushSeiurus noveboracensis
- GadwallAnas strepera
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Glossy IbisPlegadis falcinellus
- Great CormorantPhalacrocorax carbo
- Least BitternIxobrychus exilis
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
Plants 381
- Elliott's BlueberryVaccinium elliottii
- Possumhaw HollyIlex decidua
- Cherrybark OakQuercus pagoda
- Appalachian Orange ConeflowerRudbeckia fulgida var. umbrosa
- Shagbark HickoryCarya ovata
- Southern Shagbark HickoryCarya carolinae-septentrionalis
- Spreading SedgeCarex laxiculmis
- Louisiana SedgeCarex louisianica
- Common Cup-plantSilphium perfoliatum
- Smooth Hedge-nettleStachys tenuifolia
- Virginia Cup-plantSilphium connatum
- Coville's PhaceliaPhacelia covillei
Dry forests and woodlands
Birds 69
- Pine WarblerDendroica pinus
- Red CrossbillLoxia curvirostra
- Brown-headed NuthatchSitta pusilla
- Blackburnian WarblerDendroica fusca
- Brewer's BlackbirdEuphagus cyanocephalus
- Red-breasted NuthatchSitta canadensis
- Blue-headed VireoVireo solitarius
- White-crowned SparrowZonotrichia leucophrys
- White-winged CrossbillLoxia leucoptera
- Yellow-throated WarblerDendroica dominica
- Prairie WarblerDendroica discolor
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
Plants 230
- American ChestnutCastanea dentata
- Eastern Winged SumacRhus copallinum var. latifolia
- Godfrey's ThoroughwortEupatorium godfreyanum
- White ThoroughwortEupatorium album
- Sessileleaf Tick-trefoilDesmodium sessilifolium
- Leavenworth's SedgeCarex leavenworthii
- Southern Whitetinge SedgeCarex albicans var. australis
- Southern LoosestrifeSteironema tonsum
- Carolina LilyLilium michauxii
- Tall BellflowerCampanulastrum americanum
- Bigleaf SnowbellStyrax grandifolius
- Delicate Rabbit-tobaccoPseudognaphalium micradenium
Moist forests
Birds 52
- Blackburnian WarblerDendroica fusca
- Blue-headed VireoVireo solitarius
- Black-throated Blue WarblerDendroica caerulescens
- Louisiana WaterthrushSeiurus motacilla
- Black-throated Green WarblerDendroica virens
- Canada WarblerWilsonia canadensis
- Cerulean WarblerDendroica cerulea
- Chuck-will's-widowCaprimulgus carolinensis
- Evening GrosbeakCoccothraustes vespertinus
- Northern Saw-whet OwlAegolius acadicus
- OvenbirdSeiurus aurocapilla
- Prothonotary WarblerProtonotaria citrea
Plants 363
- Gorge GoldenrodSolidago faucibus
- Mountain HollyIlex montana
- Smooth Blue AsterSymphyotrichum laeve
- Appalachian SnakerootAgeratina roanensis
- Sweet Scented Joe Pye WeedEutrochium purpureum var. purpureum
- Common Sweet White VioletViola incognita
- Fewflower Tick-trefoilHylodesmum pauciflorum
- Bigleaf MagnoliaMagnolia macrophylla
- Umbrella MagnoliaMagnolia tripetala
- Smooth Carrion-flowerSmilax herbacea
- Pointedleaf Tick-trefoilHylodesmum glutinosum
- Blue Ridge Hedge-nettleStachys subcordata
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)























































