Apus leuconyx
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
Blyth's swift (Apus leuconyx) is a small species of bird. It is superficially similar to a house martin, but completely unrelated to those passerine species, as swifts are in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.
The common name commemorates Edward Blyth (1810–1873), English zoologist and Curator of the Museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. The scientific name comes from the Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet". A 2011 study has many taxonomists splitting this species from the fork-tailed swift complex.
Blyth's swifts are similar in size to common swift, and they are black except for a white rump. They can be distinguished from a partially leucistic common swift by the deeper tail fork, longer wings, bigger head and larger white throat patch.
Blyth's swifts breeds from the outer Himalayas through the Assam hills. This species is migratory, and winters in India and Sri Lanka. Blyth's swifts have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on... Wikipedia →
Call0:18
Bhutan · 2005
© David Farrow · XC19674 · CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Manas National Park | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | |
| 2 | Langtang National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 3 | Eravikulam National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Periyar National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blyth's Swift sighting in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] on a given day, based on 6 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 187th most-seen of the 204 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Blyth's Swift in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 7 and 10 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Blyth's 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.
Only Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte], in our data
Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Blyth's Swift sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Blyth's Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Colombo [Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte] (6 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.
