(movements in South America are poorly known) 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.

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.

[2] 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.

[7] Three subspecies are recognised:[6] In flight, these birds resemble flying cigars with long slender curved wings.

Fewer than 150 black swift breeding sites are known in the United States and Canada, with 108 (as of July 2012) known from Colorado.

Large flocks of migrants are occasionally seen in spring and fall, but only very rarely far south of the U.S. breeding range.