It has a protruding head, a short square tail, and wings that bulge in the middle and somewhat hook at the end.

Their upperparts are black with a bronze gloss and a whitish rump and uppertail coverts.

It principally inhabits lowland tropical evergreen forest but also occurs over more open landscapes and urban areas.

The pale-rumped swift's main vocalizations are "a single-noted 'tsee'...and more complex twittering calls such as 'tsee-titi' or 'titi-tsee-trtr'.

"[6] The IUCN has assessed the pale-rumped swift as being of Least Concern, though its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing.