Category: Animal House
Hi.
The following article from the BBC describes my favorite bird the common swift.
Enjoy.
Common swift
Apus apus
Swifts are accomplished fliers, spending most of their life in the air.
Life span
Swifts have been known to live as long as 22 years.
Statistics
Length: 17-21cm, Wingspan: 40-44cm.
Physical description
Swifts have a very streamlined appearance. The plumage is a dull brown colour and they have a white chin. The wings are long and pointed, and the tail is
short and forked. They cannot perch and the feet are small, with all four toes pointing forward.
Distribution
They also inhabit Europe, Asia and Africa.
Habitat
Swifts nest in colonies in holes in caves, trees or, more frequently, buildings.
Diet
The swift feeds on ‘aerial plankton’, which consists of small insects and spiders light enough to be carried quite high by air currents.
Behaviour
Swifts spend nearly all of their lives in the air, landing only to build nests and to feed their young. They are even able to sleep while flying. They are
migratory birds, leaving Britain in late July or early August and spending the winter in sub-Saharan Africa. They return to Britain in late April or early
May for the breeding season.
Reproduction
Swifts pair for life. They mate either in the nest or in the air. The nest is built with thistledown, feathers, dry leaves and even litter, which the swifts
catch in the air and glue together with their gelatinous saliva. The female lays 2-3 white eggs and incubates them for about 20 days. Both sexes share
nesting duties. The young are fed on insects and spiders mixed in with the parents' sticky saliva. It takes the chick seven or eight weeks to develop from
hatching to flight, depending on food availability. The chicks are finally abandoned by their parents and then, a day or two later, leave the nest and
are immediately able to fly. The young birds don't land to breed for 2-3 years. Until then their entire life is spent in the air.
Conservation status
Common swifts are not listed by the IUCN Red List.
Voice
When in flocks, they emit a loud screaming sound.
For a sound of the common swift go to http://www.commonswift.org/sounds/swift.mp3.
It's not a very good one but i will give you a better link later.
Nikos
Also try http://www.springalive.net/audio/swift.wav for another sound.
That's very interesting. I didn't know that any birds were capable of sleeping in the air. If you have any other concise, informative articles on other bird species, similar to this article, please post them. I would be very interested. Thanks.
Nikos thank you you have solved a problem that was driving me daft. Every summer we have several of these birds in our area and I couldn't tell if they were swallows or swifts..cheers man
No problem. A lot of people get them confuced with swallows because they look very similar but their call is different and swifts never sit on wiars like swallows because of their small legs.
You can listen another sound at mms://audio.bl.uk/media/wildlife/swift01.wma
and also a swallow to see the diference at mms://audio.bl.uk/media/wildlife/swallow01.wma.
Nikos
Ahh ok they are incredible I'm told they fly like bats, man I envy the freedom to fly. At the begining there were 5 adults, but the breeding has gone well due to the heatwave, and we now have 10.
It's good that the breeding was successfull.
They say that swifts find it more difficult to nest these days because of the modern way of building.
They usually nest under roof tiles and because these days they cover the holes swifts can't built their nests there.
Hmm I've found that also they did seem to breed later than last year though with the large mob of belligerant ravens in residence here, maybe it's not surprising. Do swifts mate in the air or do they land
They do everything in the air. They only land to lay their eggs and when they feed the young swifts.
Hi again.
Just to let you know about some interesting websites about the common swift.
www.commonswift.org is a website dedicated to this amasing bird.
Also there is a discussion group about swifts, martins and swallows. If you are interested you can joign by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Swallows-Martins-Swifts-Worldwide/