The Cape Verde Swift is endemic to the Cape Verde Islands and breeds in crevices on cliffs and ravines.
It resembles the Plain Swift but is smaller and has lighter-colored underparts.
It forms small breeding colonies in crevices and natural hollows on cliffs.
Its high-pitched call has a metallic quality.
A nest collected on Brava in early April 1965 was a flattened saucer of dry earth and grass with a few grey feathers, containing two pure white eggs.
The crown is greyish, with a large whitish throat patch; the breast and belly are grey with an ochre-buff wash.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.