''Cypsiurus'' is a genus of the

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

family of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. There are three species *

Asian palm swift The Asian palm swift (''Cypsiurus balasiensis'') is a small swift. It is very similar to the African palm swift, ''Cypsiurus parvus'', and was formerly considered to be the same species. It is a common resident breeder in tropical Asia from Ind ...

, ''Cypsiurus balasiensis'' *

African palm swift The African palm swift (''Cypsiurus parvus'') is a small swift. It is very similar to the Asian palm swift, ''Cypsiurus balasiensis'', and was formerly considered to be the same species. The Malagasy palm swift was also recently split from this ...

, ''Cypsiurus parvus'' *

Malagasy palm swift The Malagasy palm swift (''Cypsiurus gracilis'') is a small swift in the family Apodidae. It is very similar to the African palm swift, ''Cypsiurus parvus'', with which it was formerly considered conspecific. It was split based on differences in ...

, ''Cypsiurus gracilis'' These very similar species were formerly considered to be conspecific. They have mainly pale brown plumage and long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

. The body is slender, and the tail is long and deeply forked, although it is usually held closed. The sexes are similar, and young birds differ from adults mainly in their shorter tails. Palm swifts have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces, since swifts never settle voluntarily on the ground. These swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on flying insects. Palm swifts often feed near the ground, and they drink on the wing.

References

* Barlow, Wacher and Disley, ''Birds of The Gambia'' * Chantler and Driessens, ''Swifts'' * Grimmett, Inskipp and Inskipp, ''Birds of India'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q134854 Bird genera Taxa named by René Lesson