Tachymarptis aequatorialis
Silhouette: Andy Wilson · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5% in a week ~10%
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 Tsavo East National Park on a given day, based on 9 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 289th most-seen of the 345 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, and over a week to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
December
In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Mottled Swift in Tsavo East National Park on a given day, against under 5% in January to November, the lowest months. That is one of Tsavo East National Park's wettest months, with about 95 mm of rain against 10 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.
7th of 15
Of the 15 parks where we can rate Mottled Swift sightings, Tsavo East National Park ranks 7th 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 Tsavo East National Park (family Apodidae, Swifts) are Little Swift (about 40%), African Palm-Swift (about 20%) and White-rumped 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 Tsavo East National Park (9 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.
