Little Swift

The little swift is a small swift of Africa and Asia that lives in towns and around rocky cliffs. Its wingspan is only about 33 cm. The plumage is black apart from a white throat and rump, with the white rump patch extending onto the flanks, and it has a short square tail. Its flight is fluttering, like a house martin's, and the call is a high twitter (Wikipedia, general species account).

It spends most of its life in the air feeding on insects, drinks on the wing and roosts on vertical cliffs or walls, never settling on the ground of its own accord. Many birds are resident, others migratory. A population once counted as an eastern subspecies is now the separate house swift.