Apus caffer
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~20% in a week ~30%
The white-rumped swift (Apus caffer) is a species of swift. Although this small bird is superficially similar to a house martin, it is not closely related to that passerine species. The resemblances between the swallows and swifts are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.
This 14–15.5 cm (5.5–6.1 in) long species has, like some relatives, a short forked tail and long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. 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.
This is a quiet species compared to little swift, but a twittering trill is sometimes given. 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 insects that they catch in their beaks. Like other swifts they drink on the wing.
The habitat of this species is dictated by that of its hosts, and is therefore normally man-made structures such as bridges... Wikipedia →
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Johannesburg | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 2 | Pretoria | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 3 | Freetown | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | |
| 4 | Kigali | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | |
| 5 | Cape Town | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 6 | Nairobi | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 7 | Durban | 🇿🇦 South Africa | |
| 8 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 9 | Harare | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | |
| 10 | Kampala | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-rumped Swift sighting in Durban on a given day, based on 59 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 97th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 20%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December and January
In those months about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-rumped Swift in Durban on a given day, against under 5% in April to September, the lowest months. Those are among Durban's wettest months, with about 210 mm of rain a month against 25 mm in June.
Between 6 and 9 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-rumped 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.
7th of 10
Of the 10 cities where we can rate White-rumped Swift sightings, Durban ranks 7th at about 10%. The best odds are in Johannesburg (South Africa, about 20%), Pretoria (South Africa, about 20%) and Freetown (Sierra Leone, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-rumped Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Durban (59 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.
