IDENTIFICATION

16-18 cm. Large all-dark swift with scythe-shaped wings and deeply forked tail. Sexes alike. Generally uniform coloration. Dark brown, slightly scaled body and mantle. In good light, slightly paler brown secondaries and inner primaries contrast with dark brown upperwing and underwing coverts, and outer primaries. Paler throat and forehead. Smaller and slimmer than Pacific Swift with narrower wings and a dark rump. A. a. pekinensis is slightly paler than A. a. apus.

VOCALISATIONS

Silent in HK.

DISTRIBUTION & HABITAT PREFERENCE

All records in HK have been over wetlands in the northwest New Territories.

OCCURRENCE

Five records, all singles:

1996: Mai Po fish ponds on 3 & 4 April (Massie and Massie 1998).

1997: Mai Po fish pond on 6 & 7 April (possibly same as the 1996 bird).

2003: Long Valley on 18 December.

2015: San Tin fish ponds during 19 - 26 January.

2020: Long Valley on 3 April.

BEHAVIOUR, FORAGING & DIET

Has occurred over lowland ponds in association with feeding parties of House Swifts, Pacific Swifts and hirundines.

SYSTEMATICS & RANGE

Common Swift breeds from Europe and northwest Africa east to northern China. Two subspecies are recognised. A. a. pekinensis breeds from Iran east through the western Himalayas to Mongolia and northern China, where it occurs from Xinjiang east to Shandong and Jiangsu, and north to Inner Mongolia and Jilin (Liu and Chen 2021). It winters in east and south Africa, with small numbers in northern India and Arabia. A. a. apus breeds in Europe and northwest Africa east to Lake Baikal and Iran; it winters in Africa (Chantler et al. 2020).

CONSERVATION STATUS

IUCN: Least Concern. Population trend stable.