Little Swift (Apus affinis) [XC430826]
by Frank Lambert from Veterinary Hospital (near Chennai), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India (call)
Little Swift (Apus affinis) [XC895606]
by Fernando Portillo de Cea from The Ark, Aberdare Salient, Nyeri County, Kenya (call, flight call)
Subspecies
Forms superspecies with House Swift (Apus nipalensis), with which often considered conspecific. Birds of sub-Saharan Africa formerly treated as subspecies abessynicus [sic], and those of coastal Limpopo and Transkei as subspecies gyratus.
The following 6 subspecies are recognised:
galilejensis (Antinori, 1855) - North-western Africa east to Pakistan, and south of Sahara in eastern Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia and north-western Somalia.
aerobates Brooke, 1969 - Mauritania east to Somalia and south to Transkei (eastern South Africa).
bannermani Hartert, 1928 - Bioko, Príncipe and Sío Tomé, in Gulf of Guinea.
theresae Meinertzhagen, R, 1949 - Western and southern Angola to southern Zambia and south through southern Africa.
affinis (Gray, 1830) - Southern Somalia to northern Mozambique (including Zanzibar and Pemba), and east to India south of Himalayas and east of Pakistan; some birds winter in India and presumably Africa.
singalensis Madarász, 1911 - Southern India and Sri Lanka.