- Telacanthura ussheri
Description
medium-sized stout-bodied swift with a short square tail, pure white rump and a pale patch on the lower belly creating a diagnostic white band around the rear body. Otherwise dark brown with extensive grey-white mottling on the chin and throat patch. The wings extend far beyond the short tail which bears short barbless extensions of the tail shafts (the spines) which cannot easily be seen in flight. A subsaharan African species which prefers light dry woodland -especially where aged Baobabs are common. The nest is a small half-saucer of dried leaf fragments and twigs glued together with saliva usually sited high up on a Baobab tree. Nesting usually co-incides with the early dry season when the Baobabs come into leaf.
Identification
This bird was photographed at Pirang Forest in The Gambia.
