H
WHITE-RUMPED SWIFT
Apus caffer
Description
A smaller bird than the Common Swift and the Pallid Swift, it is identified by the narrow white rump patch, the long and strongly forked tail and the long and pointed wings. In flight the clear edge on the back of the secondaries is visible. The subtle differences between juvenile and adult plumages make it difficult to distinguish them. This species does not present sexual dimorphism.
Subspecies
There are two subspecies of White-rumped Swift, and in Portugal it is not known whether Apus caffer caffer or Apus caffer strelaubii occurs.
Scientific Name Transcription
The term 'Apus' results from the junction of two Greek words A+Pous, meaning 'without+feet'. The term 'cafife', in Portuguese 'cafre', refers to the 'non-Muslim people' of southern Africa.
34 to 36 cm
18 to 28 g
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10 YEARS
MAY | SEP
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2 CLUTCHES
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1 to 5 EGGS
Distribution
Resident species in East Africa, southern West Africa and west Central Africa, with some summer populations in southern Africa, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco. This species is quite rare in Portugal. It is a summer species that normally arrives in mainland Portugal in May and remains until mid-September. It is distributed in a very fragmented way throughout the southern interior. This species nests in old Red-rumped Swallow nests.
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Conservation
The lack of quantitative data does not make it possible to determine with certainty the population trends of this and other species.
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