Vencejo de palmera africano

Un vencejo gris pardo muy esbelto con una cola larga y profundamente ahorquillada que a menudo se mantiene cerrada, dándole un aspecto de aguja y puntiagudo. Su patrón de vuelo errático, con cambios frecuentes de dirección y aleteos rápidos en alas largas en forma de guadaña, es distintivo. Menos gregario que otros vencejos; generalmente se encuentra en parejas o pequeñas bandadas, y su asociación con otras golondrinas y vencejos suele ser solo fugaz. Forrajea en una amplia variedad de hábitats con palmeras, incluyendo sabanas, matorrales costeros, ciudades, pueblos, áreas cultivadas, bordes de bosque y claros, desde el nivel del mar hasta los 1800 metros de altitud, prefiriendo las tierras bajas. Anida y se posa en palmeras y utiliza sus diminutas patas con garras en forma de gancho para aferrarse a la parte inferior de las frondas. Emite una llamada aguda y metálica “tre-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit”, solitario o al unísono con otros. Se diferencia de otros vencejos por su cola más larga y delgada.

Identificación

This 16 cm long species is mainly pale brown in colour. It has long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. The body is slender, and the tail is long and deeply forked, although it is usually held closed. The call is a loud, shrill scream. Sexes are similar, and young birds differ mainly in their shorter tails. Palm swifts have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces, since swifts never settle voluntarily on the ground.

Distribución y hábitat

The African palm swift is native to Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mayotte, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Migración

Resident species

Comportamiento

These swifts spend most of their lives in the air, living on the insects they catch in their beaks. Palm swifts often feed near the ground. They drink on the wing. It is a common resident breeder in tropical Africa. The down and feather nest is glued to the underside of a palm leaf with saliva, which is also used to secure the usually two eggs. This is a fast flying bird of open country, which is strongly associated with oil palms but is also found in wooded savannah, thornbush and cultivated land.