LC
African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus



Taxonomy

Taxonomic note
Cypsiurus parvus has been split into African Palm-swift C. parvus and Madagascar Palm-swift C. gracilis, on the basis of striking vocal differences and notable morphological differences (Mills et al. 2019).

Taxonomic source(s)
Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International. 2019. Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 4. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v4_Dec19.zip.
Mills, M. S., Boesman, P., & Collar, N. J. 2019. Species limits in the African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 139(1): 75-82.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history
Red List criteria met
Critically Endangered Endangered Vulnerable
- - -

Red List history
Year Category Criteria
2019 Least Concern
2016 Not Recognised
2012 Not Recognised
2008 Not Recognised
2004 Not Recognised
2000 Not Recognised
1994 Not Recognised
1988 Not Recognised
Species attributes

Migratory status not a migrant Forest dependency medium
Land-mass type Average mass -
Range

Estimate Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident) 26,500,000 km2 medium
Severely fragmented? no -
Population
Estimate Data quality Derivation Year of estimate
Population size unknown - - -
Population trend increasing - suspected -
Generation length 7.2 years - - -

Population justification: The global population size has not been quantified, but the species is reported to be common to locally abundant (del Hoyo et al. 1999).

Trend justification: The population is suspected to be increasing owing to a range expansion caused primarily by the planting of the exotic Washington palm.


Country/territory distribution
Country/Territory Presence Origin Resident Breeding visitor Non-breeding visitor Passage migrant
Angola extant native yes
Benin extant native yes
Botswana extant native yes
Burkina Faso extant native yes
Burundi extant native yes
Cameroon extant native yes
Central African Republic extant native yes
Chad extant native yes
Congo extant native yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the extant native yes
Côte d'Ivoire extant native yes
Djibouti extant vagrant yes
Equatorial Guinea extant native yes
Eritrea extant native yes
Eswatini extant native yes
Ethiopia extant native yes
Gabon extant native yes
Gambia extant native yes
Ghana extant native yes
Guinea extant native yes
Guinea-Bissau extant native yes
Kenya extant native yes
Liberia extant native yes
Malawi extant native yes
Mali extant native yes
Mauritania extant native yes
Mozambique extant native yes
Namibia extant native yes
Niger extant native yes
Nigeria extant native yes
Rwanda extant native yes
São Tomé e Príncipe extant native yes
Saudi Arabia extant native yes
Senegal extant native yes
Sierra Leone extant native yes
Somalia extant native yes
South Africa extant native yes
South Sudan extant native yes
Sudan extant native
Tanzania extant native yes
Togo extant native yes
Uganda extant native yes
Yemen extant native yes
Zambia extant native yes
Zimbabwe extant native yes

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)
Country/Territory IBA Name

Habitats & altitude
Habitat (level 1) Habitat (level 2) Importance Occurrence
Artificial/Terrestrial Rural Gardens suitable resident
Artificial/Terrestrial Urban Areas suitable resident
Forest Subtropical/Tropical Dry suitable resident
Savanna Dry suitable resident
Altitude 0 - 1800 m Occasional altitudinal limits  

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: African Palm Swift Cypsiurus parvus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/african-palm-swift-cypsiurus-parvus on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.