The little swift (''Apus affinis''), is a small species of

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, ...

found in Africa and

southwestern Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

, and are vagrants and local breeders in southern Europe. They are found both in urban areas and at rocky cliffs where they build nests in a way typical of all members of the order

Apodiformes Traditionally, the bird order Apodiformes contained three living families: the swifts (Apodidae), the treeswifts (Hemiprocnidae), and the hummingbirds (Trochilidae). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is raised to a superorder Apodi ...

. The genus name ''Apus'' is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of

swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae, are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

without feet (from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

α, ''a'', "without", and πούς, ''pous'', "foot"). The Latin specific ''affinis'' means similar to or related to, but in this case the species that the little swift supposedly resembles is not clear from the description. A population formerly considered to be an eastern subspecies of little swift is now separated as a distinct species, the

house swift The house swift (''Apus nipalensis'') is a species of swift in the family Apodidae. It is found in Japan, Nepal, and Southeast Asia. It is capable of flying long distances by alternately shutting off hemispheres of their brain in-flight. In May 2 ...

( ''Apus nipalensis'').

Description

Little swifts are readily identified by their small size. Their wingspan is only 33 cm compared to 42 cm in the case of

common swift The common swift (''Apus apus'') is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between th ...

. Their plumage is black except for a white throat and rump, the white rump patch extending onto the flanks. They have a short square tail, with all rectrices round-tipped. The flight is fluttering like that of a

house martin ''Delichon'' is a small genus of passerine birds that belongs to the swallow family and contains four species called house martins. These are chunky, bull-headed and short-tailed birds, blackish-blue above with a contrasting white rump, and w ...

, and the call is a high twittering. Like other swifts they are very short-legged. The legs are used for clinging to vertical surfaces only.

Habits and foraging

Little swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing, but roost on vertical cliffs or walls. They never settle voluntarily on the ground.

Movements

Unlike the more northerly

, many birds are resident, but some populations are migratory, and these winter further south than their breeding areas. They wander widely on migration, and are seen as rare vagrants in much of Europe and Asia.

Breeding

Little swifts breed around habitation and cliffs from southern Spain, Africa northeastwards through southern Pakistan and India and Sri Lanka. They build their nests in holes in buildings or sometimes on cliffs, laying 1–4 eggs. A little swift will return to the same site year after year, rebuilding its nest when necessary. A species of bedbug ''

Cimex hemipterus ''Cimex hemipterus'', known as the tropical bed bug, is a species of bed bugs within the ''Cimicidae'' family that primarily resides in tropical climates. However, it has been reported that this species can live in more temperate climates along w ...

'' has been recorded from its nest in India.

Gallery

File:Little Swift (Apus affinis) (45852783664).jpg, Flock at dusk, Tanzania File:House Swift (Apus affinis) at nest in Hyderabad, AP W2 IMG 0192.jpg, Nesting in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, India File:Apus affinis galilejensis MHNT ZOO 2011 11 189 RdN Guinée-Bissau.jpg, Eggs of ''Apus affinis ''

References

External links

* * * * * Little swift
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
{{Taxonbar, from=Q611324

little swift The little swift (''Apus affinis''), is a small species of swift found in Africa and southwestern Asia, and are vagrants and local breeders in southern Europe. They are found both in urban areas and at rocky cliffs where they build nests in a wa ...

Birds of Africa Birds of South Asia Birds of Western Asia