Pacific Swift

How to identify

Field marks

1. A single white marking across the rump
2. Long, pointed wings and a rather deeply forked tail
3. White feather edges on the belly give a scaled appearance from below
4. Short black bill; extremely short-legged

Male, female and young

Sexes similar; juveniles have white feather edges, especially conspicuous on the wings.

Voice

Often gives trills or grating hissing calls near breeding sites.

Similar species

Common Swift

Pacific Swift has a white rump patch, slightly longer wings, a more projecting head and a more deeply forked tail than Common Swift.

Cook's Swift

Cook's Swift has a more shallowly forked tail and a green metallic gloss, and breeds in limestone caves in northern Southeast Asia; field identification requires close scrutiny.

Blyth's Swift

Blyth's Swift is smaller, has a narrower white rump patch and occurs in the Himalayas.

Where and when it's recorded

Pacific Swift has been recorded at 1,376 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 30 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

1. Kenting NP – Sheding Lingxiao Pavilion (Raptors Observation Spot)Taiwan (China)958 records
2. Taipei – Tianliaoyang WetlandTaiwan (China)660 records
3. Khao Dinsor (Khao Dinso) / Chumphon Raptor CenterThailand648 records

Countries and regions with the most records

ChinaSingaporeThailandAustraliaMalaysiaMongoliaSouth KoreaJapan

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The Pacific swift (Apus pacificus) is a species of bird that is part of the Swift family. It breeds in eastern Asia. It is strongly migratory, spending the northern hemisphere's winter in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

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