Scientific name: Apus caffer
This 14-15.5 cm long species has, like its relatives, a short forked tail and long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. It is entirely dark except for a pale throat patch and a narrow white rump. It is similar to the closely related little swift, but is slimmer, darker and has a more forked tail and a narrower white rump.
Swifts have very short legs that they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, and spend most of their lives in the air, feeding on insects that they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing.
In southern Africa it is common in Namibia, south-eastern Botswana, Zimbabwe, Swaziland and South Africa. As it spends a large portion of its life in the air, it is not picky about what habitats it forages over, however it generally prefers savanna, forest, grassland and shrubland.
It exclusively eats insects, typically foraging aerially in mixed species flocks, along with other swift and swallow species.
