Apus barbatus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Swift sighting in Johannesburg on a given day, based on 45 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 136th most-seen of the 219 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report an African Swift in Johannesburg on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
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.
3rd of 5
Of the 5 cities where we can rate African Swift sightings, Johannesburg ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Cape Town (South Africa, about 10%) and Durban (South Africa, under 5%).
Same genus: Apus
The closest relatives of the African Swift that you can see in Johannesburg (genus Apus, Typical Swifts) are White-rumped Swift (about 20%) and Little 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 Johannesburg (45 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.
