page_title: African black swift
section_title: Distinctive features
hierarchical_section_title: African black swift / Distinctive features
caption_attribution_description: African Black Swift (Apus barbatus). From a great spot at the top of a cliff at Hlokozi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
context_page_description: The African black swift, also known as the African swift or black swift, is a medium-sized bird in the swift family. It breeds in Africa discontinuously from Liberia, Cameroon, Zaire, Uganda and Kenya southwards to South Africa. The "black swifts" of Madagascar and the Comoros are either taken as two subspecies of the African black swift, or otherwise deemed a full species, the Malagasy black swift.
context_section_description: The African black swift is 16–18 cm long and bulky like a pallid swift; it appears entirely blackish-brown except for a small white or pale grey patch on the chin which is not visible from a distance. It has a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. This species is very similar to the common swift but can be distinguished under optimum viewing conditions by the contrast between its black back and paler secondary wing feathers. The heavier build also gives it a distinctive flight action, which consisted of a steady level flight interspersed with short glides.
caption: From a spot at the top of a cliff at Hlokozi, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
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