Difference between revisions of "Horus Swift" - BirdForum Opus

Latest revision as of 21:05, 13 March 2024

Photo by safariranger
South Luangwa N.P., Zambia, July 2006

Apus horus

Includes: Loanda Swift

Identification

13-15 cm. Blackish with a white patch on the chin and a white rump. Forked tail.

Similar species

This species is difficult to tell apart from various sympatric and allopatric species such as Little Swift, White-rumped Swift, House Swift, Pacific Swift. (Extralimital species should be considered as many species exhibit vagrancy.) The most consistent character seems to be a more or less pale head with no strong demarcation from the white throat patch. The species often shows pale bars along the coverts of the underwing. See the following for a detailed comparison: Identifying small white-rumped swifts.

Distribution

Sub-Saharan Africa. Patchily distributed in Central Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and from Uganda south to Burundi and Zaire. More widely distributed in the south (South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia).
Locally common in good habitat and not globally threatened.

Photo by Alan Manson
Middelrus, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, January 2012

Taxonomy

The form toulsoni (Loanda Swift) of Zimbabwe and NW Angola is very controversial. Some authorities give full subspecies status, others believe it to be a dark morph of the nominate subspecies. It differs by being almost entirely dark with an ill-defined paler throat (see also here).

Subspecies

This is a monotypic species[1]. Both subspecies fuscobrunneus and toulsoni are synonymised with subspecies horus and the species therefore becomes monotypic. The reason for the synonymy is that both are now considered color morphs and not true subspecies. Either one or the other of those two names were formerly associated with the common name Loanda Swift.

Habitat

Forages aerially over over grassland, woodland and semi-desert.

Behaviour

It builds a flat nest of vegetation and hair, glued with saliva; it is situated at the end of a tunnel (generally excavated by another hole-nesting bird). One to four eggs are incubated for 28 days to hatching, and the fledging period is about 6 weeks.

References

Clements, J. F., P. C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2023. IOC World Bird List (v 13.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.13.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/

List of references

Recommended Citation

BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Horus Swift. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 18 May 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Horus_Swift

External Links

Search for photos of Horus Swift in the gallery

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.1

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-;Apus horus
+[[Image:Horus_Swift_safariranger_July2006.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by {{user|safariranger|safariranger}} <br/>South Luangwa N.P., [[Zambia]], July 2006 ]]
-[[Image:Horus_Swift.jpg|thumb|550px|right|Photo by nkgray]]
+;[[Category:Apus]] [[:Category:Apus|Apus]] horus
+'''Includes: Loanda Swift'''
 ==Identification==
-Photo taken: Marievale wetland, Gauteng, South Africa
-The Horus Swift, Apus horus, is a small bird in the swift family.
+-15 cm. Blackish with a white patch on the chin and a white rump. Forked tail.
-The Horus Swift is 13-15 cm long and quite bulky. It appears entirely blackish except for a white patch on the chin and a white rump. It has a medium length forked tail. It has a fluttering flight like Little Swift. Little Swift has a square tail, and more extensive white on the rump than Horus, and White-rumped Swift has a more deeply forked tail and a narrower white band. The call is a buzzing peeeeooo, peeeeooo.
+===Similar species===
+This species is difficult to tell apart from various sympatric and allopatric species such as [[Little Swift]], [[White-rumped Swift]], [[House Swift]], [[Pacific Swift]]. (Extralimital species should be considered as many species exhibit vagrancy.) The most consistent character seems to be a more or less pale head with no strong demarcation from the white throat patch. The species often shows pale bars along the coverts of the underwing. See the following for a detailed comparison: [[Identifying small white-rumped swifts]].
 ==Distribution==
-It breeds in sub-Saharan Africa. It has an extensive continuous distribution from eastern and southern South Africa north to southern Zambia and central Mozambique, and has recently colonised the De Hoop Nature Reserve area of the Western Cape.
+Sub-Saharan [[Africa]]. Patchily distributed in Central Africa, [[Ethiopia]], [[Kenya]], [[Tanzania]] and from [[Uganda]] south to [[Burundi]] and [[Zaire]]. More widely distributed in the south ([[South Africa]], [[Mozambique]] and [[Zambia]]).<br/>
+Locally common in good habitat and not globally threatened.
-It also occurs very discontinuously in much of the rest of the sub-Saharan region, with the Ethiopian mountains and the area from central Kenya into Uganda having large populations. Identification difficulties confuse the limits of this species’ range.
+[[Image:Swift_Horus_2012_01_02_Alan_Manson.jpg|thumb|350px|right|Photo by {{user|Alan+Manson|Alan Manson}} <br |>Middelrus, [[KwaZulu-Natal]], [[South Africa]], January 2012]]
-Birds in South Africa are migratory, wintering further north. Other populations are resident apart from local movements.
 ==Taxonomy==
+The form ''toulsoni'' (Loanda Swift) of [[Zimbabwe]] and NW [[Angola]] is very controversial. Some authorities give full subspecies status, others believe it to be a dark morph of the nominate subspecies. It differs by being almost entirely dark with an ill-defined paler throat (see also [[Identifying small white-rumped swifts|here]]).
+====Subspecies====
+This is a [[Dictionary_M-O#M|monotypic]] species[[#References|[1]]].
+<!--- Comment to editors: This image probably shows White-rumped Swift, therefore hidden
+[[Image:Horus_Swift.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Photo by {{user|nkgray|nkgray}} <br/>Marievale, [[South Africa]] ]] --->
+Both subspecies ''fuscobrunneus'' and ''toulsoni'' are [[Dictionary P-S#S|synonymised]] with subspecies ''horus'' and the species therefore becomes monotypic. The reason for the synonymy is that both are now considered color morphs and not true subspecies. Either one or the other of those two names were formerly associated with the common name Loanda Swift.
 ==Habitat==
+Forages aerially over over grassland, woodland and semi-desert.
 ==Behaviour==
+It builds a flat nest of vegetation and hair, glued with saliva; it is situated at the end of a tunnel (generally excavated by another hole-nesting bird). One to four eggs are incubated for 28 days to hatching, and the fledging period is about 6 weeks.
-The Horus Swift breeds in old burrows of bee-eaters, Ground Woodpeckers, kingfishers and martins, which are typically in natural or artificial sandy banks. The flat nest of vegetation and hair, glued with saliva is built at the end of the tunnel and 1-4 eggs are laid. The eggs are incubated for 28 days to hatching, and the fledging period is about 6 weeks.
+==References==
+#{{Ref-Clements6thOct23}}#{{Ref-GillDonskerRasmussen22V13.2}}
-This species is not colonial, but the nature of its breeding habitat means that a number of pairs may be scattered through a bee-eater or Banded Martin colony. It feeds at middle levels over adjacent habitats, but avoids large towns.
+{{ref}}
 ==External Links==
+{{GSearch|"Apus horus" {{!}} "Apus fuscobrunneus" {{!}} "Apus toulsoni" {{!}} "Horus Swift" {{!}} "Loanda Swift"}}
+{{GS-checked}}1<br /><br />
 [[Category:Birds]]