Pallid Swift
Photo: Irvin calicut · CC BY-SA 4.0

Swifts

Pallid Swift

Apus pallidus

LCLeast Concern
Family
Swifts (Apodidae)
Order
Apodiformes

Overview

The pallid swift (Apus pallidus) is a swift (order Apodiformes). Swifts have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. The genus 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"), and pallidus is Latin for "pale". Like other swifts they never settle voluntarily on the ground, but spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.