Swifts (Apodidae)

White-rumped Swift (Apus caffer) - HBW 5, p. 457

French: Martinet cafre German: Kaffernsegler Spanish: Vencejo Cafre
Other common names: African White-rumped Swift

Taxonomy: Cypselus Caffer Lichtenstein, 1823, South Africa.
Population of N Angola and lower Congo formerly separated racially as ansorgei, but merely one of darkest-headed populations and no longer considered a valid race. Birds of tropical zones (excluding migratory populations in extreme N and S) claimed to average shorter-winged, and are sometimes recognized as racially distinct (streubelii), but variation in wing length apparently clinal, increasing from N to SW. Monotypic.

Distribution: S Spain, E Portugal and C Morocco; Senegambia, N & E Sierra Leone and (probably breeding) NW Liberia, then C Ivory Coast E to Somalia and S to South Africa; S Gabon S to C Namibia (Windhoek). Winter range of migratory populations unknown.