Swifts with white rumps

This blog isn't about what has been seen, but rather about the two small swifts with white rumps, both smaller than Common or Pallid Swifts and both very black, which one can see in southern Spain. Both are remarkably easy to separate once one has had a good view.

First colonisation by the White-rumped Swift Apus caffer dates was from the late 1960s and took place in the Sierra de Retín (Cadiz), just up beyond Bolonia. It has increased steadily over the years and regularly breeds as far north as Monfragüe (Extremadura).

This swift has a notably long tail, often looking pointed (I have never seen one flared, I think) and the rump is small and sickle-shaped, as can be seen clearly from the photo on the right.



The Little Swift Apus affinis is still very scarce, in spite of being common just across the water as near as Tangiers. Colonisation started in the late 1990s and the species has only broken out from its first known breeding site at Bolonia in the past 3 or4 years, there being a small colony further north at a site on the coast and recent reports show apparent colonisation of the Sierra Norte of Sevilla province. These swifts stay until December and may even over winter in the region of the mouth of the Guadalquivir as there have been reports as early as February.

Identification shows a a short, chopped off, square tail and the white rump is larger in area and squarer, even though this photo makes it appear rounded because of angle.

These photos were taken on 12 June in the Sierra Norte de Sevilla by Fernando del Valle, to whom I am most grateful for his permission to use them.