Mottled Swift?, Kenya (1 Viewer)

[opisska]

It has been suggested to me that this is a Mottled Swift. In the absence of any scale, I find myself unable to judge the size of the bird - to me it could be Mottled or some of the assortment of the smaller Apus swifts that can occur in Kenya.

From a road between Samburu and Meru, January 2022.

 

[MacNara]

Hi Jan.

I left it a day to see if someone else would reply.

Anyway, lightening your photos shows a mottled breast and white throat. So this should exclude quite a few swifts. I would have thought that the contrasty wings would also be a relvant ID feature. Birds of East Africa specifically mentions wings which are impressively long (even for a swift, presumably) which I would think is a good description of your bird. The tail seems to be moulting, so maybe not helpful.

Maybe these lightened photos will encourage someone else to offer an opinion