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 Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 320th most-seen of the 519 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.
February, June and October
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Swift in Ngorongoro Conservation Area on a given day, against under 5% in March–May, July–September and November–January, the lowest months. Those are among Ngorongoro Conservation Area's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 190 mm in April.
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.
4th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Mottled Swift sightings, Ngorongoro Conservation Area ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Samburu National Reserve (Kenya, about 10%), Tsavo West National Park (Kenya, about 10%) and Nairobi National Park (Kenya, under 5%).
Same family: Apodidae
The closest relatives of the Mottled Swift that you can see in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (family Apodidae, Swifts) are Little Swift (about 20%), White-rumped Swift (about 10%) and African Palm-Swift (about 10%), 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 Ngorongoro Conservation Area (56 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.
