Cook's Swift (Apus cooki)
About the Cook's Swift
Cook's swift (Apus cooki) is a small bird, superficially similar to a house martin. It is, however, completely unrelated to those passerine species, since swifts are in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles. These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. The scientific name comes from the Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet". They never settle voluntarily on the ground. Blyth's swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 8 recordings for this species: 2 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in China, Thailand, Vietnam in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Common SwiftApus apusrecording
- Pallid SwiftApus pallidusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.