Overview

Swift: One of the fastest birds in the world, they are black-brown overall with a pale grey or cream chin. Wings are long and swept-back, tail is short and forked. Legs and feet are black. They spend most of their life aloft and have a "grasping foot" which allows them to cling to vertical surfaces.

Swift: Summer visitor to the UK and Ireland, more common in the south, east. Arrives at the end of April; leaves for southern Africa in August. May be seen high in the sky over most habitats as it ranges widely in search of food. Breeds from the Arctic Circle to Northern Africa and east into Asia.

Jean Roche Sound

Swift 3

• Title: Swift 3
• Description: "Swee" calls.
• Recordist: Jean Roche
• Date Imported: "February 21, 2011"
• Location: uk

Voice Text

"vzz-vzz", "screeeeee", "scirrrrrrr"

• Swifts may fly as much as 560 miles per day during the nesting season.
• It was once believed they hibernated in the mud at the bottom of lakes. In actuality, they migrate to Africa.
• Young can enter a semi-torpid state if there is bad weather or a food shortage; this allows them to survive on very little food for 10-15 days.
• A group of swifts are collectively known as a "box", "flock", "screaming frenzy", and "swoop" of swifts.

• Swallow
• House Martin
• Sand Martin
• Alpine Swift

Swifts (Apodidae)

ORDER

The taxonomic order APODIFORMES (pronounced a-poh-dih-FOR-meez) is made up of four families of birds that occur on all continents except for Antarctica and includes the glittering hummingbirds, the strange owlet-nightjars, and the swifts.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The Apodidae (pronounced a-POH-dih-dee) family is composed of one hundred and one species of swifts in nineteen genera found nearly throughout the world (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

Five species of the Apodidae in one genus have occurred in Europe. Among these are the large Alpine Swift, the well known Common Swift, and the easily overlooked Pallid Swift.

KNOWN FOR

Like their names, swifts are known for their rapid flight. Aerialists such as the Common Swift are often seen in the skies above towns and cities as they spend hours on the wing, twittering and hunting for flying insects.

PHYSICAL

The European swifts have tubular bodies, forked tails (square in the case of the Little Swift), rounded heads, and long, thin pointed wings. Their legs are extremely short and their small feet adapted to clinging on vertical perches. The bills of swifts are also very short with wide gapes.

COLORATION

Swifts have dark plumages, either black or dark brown with grey highlights. Several species have white markings on the body and face, but most have very similar dark plumages which, when combined with their fast flight, can make them difficult to identify.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Swifts occur in the skies above a variety of European habitats except for the boreal zone and the tundra. The Common Swift is the most widely distributed species in Europe due to it having become adapted to nesting in crevices in human-made structures. The other European swift species occur in southern Europe or as vagrants.

MIGRATION

European swift species undertake long distance migration to sub-Saharan Africa where the arthropods they require as a food source are available during the winter months.

HABITS

Swifts are social birds that typically nest in colonies and are often seen hunting in flocks. Hunting takes place on the wing with birds fluttering high overhead and quickly flying back and forth to catch flying insects as well as to harvest “aerial plankton" - the multitude of insects and other arthropods blown into the air by winds and essentially “trapped" in the sky by updrafts. Before and during rainstorms, swifts fly lower to capture insects that are likewise flying lower.

CONSERVATION

None of the European swift species are threatened although the Common Swift has declined in the United Kingdom.

INTERESTING FACTS

Swifts are perhaps the ultimate aerialists of all bird families. They spend most of their lives on the wing and are even capable of copulating and sleeping while flying. A few small species of Asian swifts are also known for making nests that are regarded as a delicacy in eastern Asia.

Author

Artist

Michael Oberhofer