Apus cooki
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Cook's swift (Apus cooki) is a small bird, superficially similar to a house martin. It is, however, completely unrelated to those passerine species, since swifts are in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.
These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. The scientific name comes from the Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet". They never settle voluntarily on the ground. Blyth's swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.
Cook's swifts breed in limestone caves of Thailand, Myanmar and Indochina. The species has a green iridescence, a shallow tail fork and is a short distance migrant. A 2011 study has many taxonomists splitting this species from the fork-tailed swift complex.
These swifts build their nests on cliffs, laying 2–3 eggs. A swift will return to the same site year after year, rebuilding its nest when necessary. Cook'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. Wikipedia →
Call0:15
Laos · 2022
© Bram Piot · XC722413 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 2 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Khao Sok National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Cook's Swift sighting in Doi Inthanon National Park on a given day, based on 136 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 194th most-seen of the 367 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January to March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Cook's Swift in Doi Inthanon National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to December, the lowest months. Those are among Doi Inthanon National Park's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 340 mm in August.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Cook's Swift sightings, Doi Inthanon National Park has the highest daily chance: under 5%. Next come Kaeng Krachan National Park (Thailand, under 5%) and Khao Sok National Park (Thailand, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Cook's Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Doi Inthanon National Park (136 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
