Appearance:

Very similar to Common Swift, and often difficult to identify in the field. Seeing the birds against a darker background, as opposed to the sky, brings out some of the characters more clearly. Generally paler and more sandy brown than Common Swift. Differs further from C. Swift by: Rounder wing tip (outermost primary shorter than the next), slightly broader wings, broader and flatter head. White throat patch bigger and more prominent. The face seems paler, which brings out the dark eye-mask. Back slightly darker than upper part of wings. More contrast between outer and inner primaries. Underparts with more pronounced scaly pattern. Flight less acrobatic, with slightly slower wing-beats, more frequent gliding and much less twinkling turns.

Sound:

Similar to Common Swift, but usually very helpful for ID. Almost di-syllabic, with marked accent on second syllable which rapidly drops in pitch, "srrrree-aah". Common swift has a more even call, with accents on first part, without the sudden pitch-drop.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Xeno-canto: map

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

CC

Sound recording:Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Carlos W.,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

All black swift with small white throat patch. Very difficult to separate from Pallid swift and Plain Swift. Pallid Swift; brownish plumage tone (best seen against darker background), bigger throat-patch than swift, scale pattern on body more prominent, wing-tips slightly rounded, "saddle" darker than wings, and more contrast between darker outer primaries and inner. Plain Swift; throat patch smaller and more diffuse than swift, wings and body more slender, tail noticeably deeper forked.

Sound:

A shrilling trill "zreeeee" of about 1 -2 seconds length, gradually rising in pitch with accentuated firs half, then falling from the middle of phrase. Often continued with a dry lower pitched "trrrrrr" before calling again. Very vocal at breeding area, and often a flock will call together. Despite being quite similar to Pallid Swift, the call is probably the best field character to separate the two. Pallid puts the stress on the ending of the call, followed by a quick fall in pitch (dynamics like moaning with a quick release). Plain Swift calls similar to Common Swift, but differs in slightly fluctuating pitch during the call, and a loss of resonance towards the ending (thinner sounding).

Song/contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC