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Australian Wildlife

  Fork-tailed Swift (Apus pacificus)





Fork-tailed Swift | Apus pacificus photo
Fork-tailed Swift

Image by Robert Pudwill - Some rights reserved.    (view image details)







FORK-TAILED SWIFT FACTS

Description
The Fork-tailed Swift is a fairly large black swift with white rump and distinctive forked tail. The wings are long and aerodynamic, and it flies with a fluttering flight. The throat is grey. the legs are very short and mainly used for hanging on to vertical surfaces such as cliff faces. It is similar to the rarer House Swift which has square tail and more white on the throat.

Other Names
Pacific Swift

Size
17cm

Habitat
spend most of their time in the air and roost on cliffs or walls.

Food
insects which they catch in the air

Breeding
Nests on cliffs. Lays two or three white eggs. They return to the same nest site each year,

Range
the fork-tailed Swift breeds in Asia and migrates to south east Asia and Australia in winter. It can be seen in the skies over Australia.

distribution map showing range of Apus pacificus in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.



Classification
Class:Aves
Order:Passeriformes
Family:Apodidae
Genus:Apus
Species:pacificus
Common Name:Fork-tailed Swift

Relatives in same Genus
  House Swift (A. affinis)