Apus caffer
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
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 Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, based on 440 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 104th most-seen of the 398 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January and April
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a White-rumped Swift in Masai Mara National Reserve on a given day, against under 5% in July, the lowest month. Those are among Masai Mara National Reserve's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
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.
12th of 45
Of the 45 parks where we can rate White-rumped Swift sightings, Masai Mara National Reserve ranks 12th at about 10%. The best odds are in De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 40%), Queen Elizabeth National Park (Uganda, about 30%) and Serengeti National Park (Tanzania, about 20%). All parks ranked.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-rumped Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Masai Mara National Reserve (440 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.
