Plain Swift (Apus unicolor)
About the Plain Swift
The plain swift (Apus unicolor) is a medium-sized swift. Although this bird is superficially similar to a barn swallow or house martin, it is not related to those passerine species. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles. Swifts have very short legs that they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, and spend most of their lives in the air, feeding on insects that they catch in their beaks. They drink on the wing.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 42 recordings for this species: 16 CC BY-NC-SA · 6 CC BY-NC-ND. 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 Portugal, Spain 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.