The African Black Swift catches insects in flight. The nominate subspecies in South Africa is described as partly migratory.
Adults have a blackish-brown head with a paler grey-brown forehead, lores and supercilium. The dark back and outer wings contrast with grey-brown inner wings and a pale throat and upper breast.
It catches small insects while on the wing. Movement patterns vary among the populations described.
In southern Africa it builds a thin nest pad of feathers, grass and sometimes thistle down bound with saliva in rock crevices or caves.
It feeds in mixed flocks, especially when winged termites emerge, and takes termites, flies, ants and bees.
It roosts in rock crevices or tree cavities.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.