Tachymarptis aequatorialis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
The mottled swift (Tachymarptis aequatorialis) is a species of bird in the swift family, Apodidae. It is very sparsely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa, although more so throughout East Africa. Jali Makawa noted that the Alomwe people hunted these swifts by swirling long bamboo poles above them to swat the swifts down. Makawa and C.W. Benson tasted these birds and found them palatable.
Mottled swift - Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds. Wikipedia →
Call1:10
Guinea · 2016
© Bram Piot · XC333261 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Samburu National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 2 | Tsavo West National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 3 | Nairobi National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 4 | Ngorongoro Conservation Area | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 5 | Arusha National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 6 | Niokolo-Koba National Park | 🇸🇳 Senegal | |
| 7 | Tsavo East National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 8 | Semuliki National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 9 | Masai Mara National Reserve | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 10 | Tarangire National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 11 | Serengeti National Park | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 12 | Lake Nakuru National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 13 | Amboseli National Park | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 14 | Kibale National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda | |
| 15 | Murchison Falls National Park | 🇺🇬 Uganda |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Swift sighting in Nairobi National Park on a given day, based on 53 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 260th most-seen of the 371 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May and October–November
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Swift in Nairobi National Park on a given day, against under 5% in June–September and December–April, the lowest months. Those are among Nairobi National Park's wettest months, with about 110 mm of rain a month against 15 mm in July.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Mottled 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 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Mottled Swift sightings, Nairobi National Park ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%) and Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 10%).
Same family: Apodidae
The closest relatives of the Mottled Swift that you can see in Nairobi National Park (family Apodidae, Swifts) are African Palm-Swift (about 50%), Little Swift (about 50%) and White-rumped Swift (about 20%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Mottled Swift is recorded against all the birds logged in Nairobi National Park (53 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.
