Bates's swift

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Bates's swift (Apus batesi) is a small swift in the family Apodidae, found in western Africa.

Description
Bates's swift is slender with a deeply forked tail, often held closed to a point. It has glossy black plumage with a pale patch on the throat. It is normally silent, but it makes a high-pitched trill near the nest. It measures about 14 cm in length.

Distribution
It lives from Liberia and Guinea, eastward to Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon, and south to Gabon and northern Congo. Its presence in Sierra Leone is unconfirmed, and reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo are not solid.

Habitat
Bates's swift lives in rainforests and is found close to cliffs and crags.

Habits
It forages above the rainforest canopy with a fluttering flight, occasionally gliding briefly between rapid wing beats. It can be seen alone or in small flocks, and sometimes with other swifts and hirundines. It nests solitarily in old nests of hirundines and other swifts, mainly forest swallow and possibly Mottled spinetail and lesser striped swallow. Breeding has been recorded from September to March in Gabon, and egg laying has been noted in May and June in Cameroon.

Taxonomy and naming
Recent molecular studies place Bates's swift in a clade with white-rumped swift, horus swift, house swift, and little swift. The name honors George Latimer Bates (1863–1940), an American naturalist who worked in West Africa. Binomial name: Apus batesi (Sharpe, 1904).

Status
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN Red List).