It is found in Mexico, the Greater and Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, and every mainland South American country except Chile.

[4] Further north it has also occurred as a documented vagrant in Texas and Florida and there are sight records from California, Michigan, and several locations in northern Mexico.

[5] The only documented predation on white-collared swifts was by Virginia opossums, which raid and eat the young in nests, and peregrine falcons, which are known to wait near colony entrances to take birds as they enter or leave.

However, it has many times been documented beyond its usual northern limit and also makes significant movements to lower elevations to escape bad weather.

Details of its diet are lacking, but a pair of specimens from southern Mexico had fed almost exclusively on flying ants.

[5][8][9] The white-collared swift's nesting season in southern Mexico and Costa Rica includes at least April and May; it has not been documented elsewhere.

Nests are flattish circles made from some or all of mud, moss, and insect chitin lined with leaves or fern fronds; the materials used can differ between colonies.

[5] A flock makes "an impressive swooshing rush of air" when rapidly descending, as down a valley.