White-collared Swift

How to find it

Look for flocks overhead near mountains, waterfalls and cliffs, where colonies nest in caves, often beside streams. Watch the sky in early morning and late afternoon for flocks circling high. Listen for shrieks, since the birds often fly silently. Swifts are often too high to watch well, but they come much lower just before a storm, which gives the best looks. Over the Central Valley, the start of the rains and cloudy weather can bring them down over rooftops.

How to recognise it

Adults are mostly black with a blue gloss on the back. A white collar runs around the neck, wider and duller on the breast than on the nape. That collar is the mark to look for, and it can be seen on birds in flight.

Young birds look duller than adults, and their white collar is reduced or missing. A dark swift without a clear collar in a flock may simply be a youngster.

It is the largest swift across most of its range. Only the White-naped Swift of northwestern Mexico is bigger, and that species does not occur in Costa Rica. Size is a useful clue when you can compare it with smaller swifts in the same sky.

What it sounds like

Recording: Zac Peterson, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This is a very sociable swift. Flocks of 50 to 100 gather early in the breeding season and circle high up in the late afternoon. Fast courtship chases in small groups of 2 to 4 birds are accompanied by loud calling.

Its flight is fast and light, with long glides and few wingbeats. It catches insects in flight, including beetles, flies, wasps, bees and termites, and birds often forage over a very wide area each day.

Where it lives

Across its range it lives from the lowlands up to about 3600 m, but is rare or absent in lowlands far from mountains. In Costa Rica that means mountain country, the northern highlands, the Central Valley and Guanacaste around Rincon de la Vieja.

It nests behind waterfalls and in wet caves. Costa Rican studies found nests in caves with very high humidity near water.

When to see it

In Costa Rica it breeds in April and May. Nests are built in the middle to late dry season, so chicks hatch as the rains begin. Once the rains start in the Central Valley, cloudy weather and more insects bring swifts flying low over houses.

Similar birds

The Chestnut-collared Swift is a bit smaller in Costa Rica. It is dark with a brown throat and collar, where the White-collared has a white collar, and the chestnut is clear on males. It sometimes flies with White-collared flocks. Before a storm, when swifts come lower, you may also see the face markings of Spot-fronted and White-chinned Swifts. Learning their calls is still the best way to identify them.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Vencejón Collarejo, and the AOCR list also gives the nickname Golondrinón and Jala agua. Elsewhere in Spanish-speaking countries you may meet Vencejo de collar or Vencejo cuelliblanco.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and it is recorded in Costa Rica as a common resident.

Photography tips

These swifts are often too high to watch well, and they come much lower just before a storm, which gives the best looks. The collar can be seen on birds in flight. Groups of hundreds are sometimes seen very high.