This blackish-brown swift has a small pale throat patch, narrow pointed wings and a deeply forked tail. It breeds on Madeira and the Canaries, and some birds move to North Africa in winter.
It is blackish-brown overall with a small pale throat patch, narrow pointed wings and a long deeply forked tail.
Its flight is very fast, agile and erratic. It gives a shrill, wheezy scream that seems to hiccup at the end.
On Gran Canaria in 2003, birds entered Puente Silva bridge through narrow tubes and nested on its internal concrete floor.
At this Gran Canaria colony, first and second clutches averaged 1.97 and 1.95 eggs respectively.
Young chicks are pink and naked, becoming darker as brush-tipped wing feathers develop.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.