Apus barbatus
Silhouette: Ferran Sayol · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
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 Ruaha National Park on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 234th most-seen of the 276 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.
September
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report an African Swift in Ruaha National Park on a given day, against under 5% in November to August, the lowest months. That is one of Ruaha National Park's driest months, with almost no rain against 180 mm in January.
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.
13th of 31
Of the 31 parks where we can rate African Swift sightings, Ruaha National Park ranks 13th at under 5%. The best odds are in Golden Gate Highlands National Park (South Africa, about 30%), De Hoop Nature Reserve (South Africa, about 20%) and Table Mountain National Park (South Africa, about 10%).
Same genus: Apus
The closest relatives of the African Swift that you can see in Ruaha National Park (genus Apus, Typical Swifts) are Little Swift (about 20%), White-rumped Swift (about 10%) and Common 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 Ruaha National Park (8 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.
