Common swift: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the common swift lives – recorded in 88 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Apus apus
Group	Hummingbirds, swifts & nightjars
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	88 countries
Continents	Africa, Asia, Europe
Mass	3.5 g (birth weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Apodiformes
Family	Apodidae

Where does the common swift live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the common swift in 88 countries and territories across Africa, Asia and Europe. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa, South America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a common swift?

Wikidata records the following for the common swift: mass 3.5 g (birth weight).

Is the common swift endangered?

The common swift’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the common swift?

The common swift (Apus apus) is a bird in the order Apodiformes and the family Apodidae, genus Apus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the common swift

The common swift (Apus apus) is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. The swifts' nearest relatives are the New World hummingbirds and the Southeast Asian treeswifts.

Its scientific name Apus is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet (from Ancient Greek α, a, "without", and πούς, pous, "foot").

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Common swift (revision 1361442305), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q25377 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).