The white-rumped swift (''Apus caffer'') is a species of

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

. Although this small

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

is superficially similar to a

house martin ''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and ...

, it is not closely related to that

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped') which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines generally have an anisodactyl arrangement of their ...

species. The resemblances between the

swallows The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The t ...

and swifts are due to

convergent evolution Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in species of different periods or epochs in time. Convergent evolution creates analogous structures that have similar form or function but were not present in the last comm ...

reflecting similar life styles.

Description

This long species has, like some relatives, a short forked tail and long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool typically constructed with airfoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight, designed to return to the thrower. The origin of the word is from Australian Aborigin ...

. It is entirely dark except for a pale throat patch and a narrow white rump. It is similar to the closely related little swift, but is slimmer, darker and has a more forked tail and a narrower white rump.

Call

This is a quiet species compared to little swift, but a twittering trill is sometimes given.

Habits

Like other swifts they have very short legs that they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, and spend most of their lives in the air, feeding on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s that they catch in their beaks. Like other swifts they drink on the wing.

Habitat

The habitat of this species is dictated by that of its hosts, and is therefore normally man-made structures such as bridges and buildings.

Breeding range

White-rumped swifts breed in much of

sub-Saharan Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the list of sovereign states and ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and have expanded into

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. The populations in Spain, Morocco and the south of Africa are migratory, although their wintering grounds are not definitively known. Birds in tropical Africa are resident apart from seasonal movements. In 2022, nesting was observed in Corsica.

Breeding

This species appropriates the nests of

little swift The little swift (''Apus affinis''), is a small species of Swift (bird), swift found in Africa and southwestern Asia, and are vagrants and local breeders in southern Europe. They are found both in urban areas and at rocky cliffs where they build ...

s and those swallows which build retort-shaped nests. In Europe and north Africa, this usually means the

red-rumped swallow The European red-rumped swallow (''Cecropis rufula'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family Hirundinidae. It breeds in open hilly country of southern Europe and north Africa east to Iran, Pakistan and northwest India. During winter it m ...

, but south of the Sahara other species like

wire-tailed swallow The wire-tailed swallow (''Hirundo smithii'') is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It has two subspecies: ''H. s. smithii'', which occurs throughout Africa, and ''H. s. filifera'', which is found in southern and southeastern Asia. I ...

are also parasitised. The original owners of the nests are driven away, or the white-rumps settle in the nest and refuse to move. Once occupied, the nest is lined with feathers and saliva, and one or two eggs are laid.

Gallery

White-rumped Swift (Apus caffer) (6041288566).jpg, Swift White-rumped 2015 12 18 07 36 42 1782.jpg Swift White-rumped 2015 12 18 07 27 23 1682, crop.jpg White-rumped swift, Apus caffer, at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (22724578894).jpg White-rumped swift, Apus caffer, at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (23244631962), crop.jpg White-rumped swift, Apus caffer, at Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve, Gauteng, South Africa (23326865516), crop.jpg

References

External links

* White-rumped swift
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q179356 white-rumped swift Birds of Europe Birds of North Africa Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa white-rumped swift