A swiftlet of the Philippine mountains, it has a mostly dark rump and occurs in northern Luzon, Mindanao and other southern islands.
The rump is usually dark, while the extent of white on the belly varies between northern Luzon and southern island forms.
It lives in forest and dense vegetation and feeds mainly on invertebrates.
The nominate northern Luzon form has more extensive white underparts than the southern subspecies bagobo.
Among ten Mindanao specimens, seven had dark rumps and three showed clear traces of white on the rump.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.