Apus barbatus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~50%
The African black swift (Apus barbatus), also known as the African swift or black swift, is a medium-sized bird in the swift family. It breeds in Africa discontinuously from Liberia, Cameroon, Zaire, Uganda and Kenya southwards to South Africa. The "black swifts" of Madagascar and the Comoros are either taken as two subspecies of the African black swift, or otherwise deemed a full species, the Malagasy black swift.
The African black swift was formally described in 1866 by the English zoologist Philip Sclater under the binomial name Cypselus barbatus based on a specimen collected in the Cape Province of South Africa. The specific epithet is Latin meaning "bearded". The African black swift is now one of sixteen species placed in the genus Apus. This species is also known as the African swift and the black swift.
Seven subspecies are recognised: Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 4 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 5 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Swift sighting in Cape Town on a given day, based on 314 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 61st most-seen of the 196 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
July to April
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report an African Swift in Cape Town on a given day, against under 5% in May and June, the lowest months.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most African Swift sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 5 cities where we can rate African Swift sightings, Cape Town has the highest daily chance: about 10%. Next come Durban (South Africa, under 5%) and Johannesburg (South Africa, under 5%).
Same genus: Apus
The closest relatives of the African Swift that you can see in Cape Town (genus Apus, Typical Swifts) are Little Swift (about 10%) and White-rumped Swift (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the African Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Cape Town (314 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
