The American black swift, or more simply black swift (Cypseloides niger), is a species of bird that is found from northern British Columbia in Canada through the United States and Mexico to Costa Rica and Brazil. They are also found in the Caribbean. Taxonomy The American black swift was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with all the other swallows and swifts in the genus Hirundo and coined the binomial name Hirundo nigra. Gmelin based his description on that of French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson who, in 1760, had described and illustrated "Le Martinet de Saint Dominigue" from a preserved specimen. The type locality is Hispaniola: Saint-Domingue was a French colony on the Caribbean island. The American black swift is now placed with seven other swifts in the genus Cypseloides that was introduced in 1848 by the German naturist August Vollrath Streubel. The genus name combines the genus Cypselus introduced by Johann Illiger in 1811 and the Ancient Greek -oidēs meaning "resembling". The specific epithet niger is the Latin word for "black". Three subspecies are recognised: C. n. borealis (Kennerly, 1858) – southeast Alaska to southwest USA C. n. costaricensis Ridgway, 1910 – central Mexico to Costa Rica C. n. niger (Gmelin, JF, 1789) – West Indies and Trinidad Description In flight, these birds resemble a flying cigar with long slender curved wings. The plumage is mostly a sooty, dark gray. There is some contrast between the inner and outer portions of the wing. The shoulders are distinctly darker in color than other parts of the wing. They have short tails that are slightly forked. Distribution and habitat Fewer than 150 black swift breeding sites are known in the United States, with 108 (as of July 2012) known from Colorado. These include: In Alberta: next to waterfall in Johnston Canyon, Banff National Park (declining, given extra protection as of August 2018) In California: the Santa Cruz coast (where it is declining); Berry Creek Falls; Burney Falls State Park; Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; the San Bernardino Mountains; and the San Jacinto Mountains In Colorado: Box Canyon near Ouray, Hanging Lake, Hawk Creek Falls, Falls Creek Falls, and Niagara and Cataract Gulches In New Mexico: Jemez Falls In Utah: Stewart Falls In Washington: Semiahmoo Bay These birds migrate out of