- 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.
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
Two subspecies recognized:
- A. h. fuscobrunneus in SW Angola
- A. h. horus in the rest of its range
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.
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
