Species Spotlight: Swift
Species spotlight:
Swift by name, swift by nature, you'll be shocked to know how long these aerial acrobats spend soaring through the skies, eating, drinking, sleeping, and even mating while in the air! Read on to find out.
Names & Nicknames: Swift, common swift, European swift, Eurasian swift
Size: Not as tiny as some hummingbird species, but certainly no California condor! They grow to around 17cm in length with a wingspan of 48cm and at around 50 grams in weight, they weigh about as much as a couple of AA batteries.
Communication: A swifts main communication is to scream (seems reasonable). They'll often form 'screaming parties' where a group of 10-20 swifts fly around together during summer evenings in the nesting areas, to scream out into the wind to be answered by nesting swifts. Why they do this is uncertain, maybe it is to help bond, maybe it's to keep track of where everyone is, or maybe it's just good fun!
Favourite Hangout: A swift's true favourite hangout is in the air, they can go for a staggering 10 months straight without landing! When they do have to land, it is to nest, and whereas historically they would have nested in cavities in trees and cliffs, they now much prefer urban settings, particularly under eaves and in roof spaces.
Favourite Snack: Since swifts are in the air whilst snacking, their preferred prey is what they can find up there: flying insects and airborne spiders. Other than that, they aren't fussy; mosquitoes, moths, flies, and aphids are all on the menu, as these aerial acrobats hoover up as many as 100,000 insects each day.
Eating Habits: Masters of eating on the go, catching all their prey whilst soaring through the skies. They use their incredible aerial agility to snag flying insects with their beaks. It's a bad day to be a mosquito when swifts are about.
Toilet Humour: It's waste not want not in a swift household. Like many birds, swift chicks will do their business in the form of a tidy little poop sack. But the parents like to keep a clean nest, so when it comes time to tidy up, they will usually eat the poop sack, thereby cleaning up and also getting some valuable nutrients, yuuuuum!
Love Language: When we say swifts do pretty much everything in the air, we mean pretty much everything. And that can include the bird and the bees activities. Swifts form very strong bonds and often mate for life, returning to the same nest sites where they'll preen each other and 'mate frequently'. And while they do like a nest romp, they're also incredibly capable of mating while flying, though this can also sometimes be where a swift's bond is tested, and some infidelity has been known to occur…
If you see them: Apart from when they are darting through the skies in flocks, ranging from a few individuals to potentially thousands, you're most likely to encounter swifts when they're nesting. If you do find a pair nesting on your property, please treat them with care; in some countries, such as the UK, they are protected by law, plus all they want to do is be left alone and raise their chicks.
Red Flags: A couple things swifts love: good nest-building sites and tasty, tasty insects. So when nest sites are lost due to renovations and modern building designs not being full of good nest crevices, and insect numbers are plummeting due to pesticide use and climate change, swifts could get into trouble.
Epic Journeys: Swifts have one of the longest migration journeys of any bird, with some travelling an incredible 22,000km in a single year, That is like going from New York to LA over 5 times! Swifts spend the summers at their European breeding sites before flying to Equatorial and Sub-Saharan Africa for a sunny winter; can you blame them?
Glow-up: Mummy swifts lay 1-4 eggs in a nest, which both parents will help incubate for about 20 days. When the big day arrives, the chicks enter the world blind and naked; they need to be kept warm and fed and require constant attention. All new mothers can relate!
Facts: They can sleep while flying! Yes, you read that right. They can zoom through the air at almost 70mph (they are the fastest flying bird in level flight) and also get their 40 winks. They are thought to be able to do this by basically putting one half of their brain to sleep at a time, so while that half is getting some shut-eye, the other half is making sure they don't plummet to the ground!
Who are they in the friendship group: Constantly on the move and always part of a group.
Name:
Swift
Habitat:
They spend the breeding season across Europe and parts of Asia and migrate to sub-Saharan Africa to overwinter. They prefer urban and suburban areas, nesting in buildings, cliffs, and woodlands.
Diet:
Insectivores that eat flying insects such as mosquitoes, moths, and aphids, as well as airborne spiders.
Size:
Around 16-17cm in length with a wingspan of 42-48cm. They weigh around 36-50 grams.
Behaviour:
Mostly diurnal (active during the day) and highly social
Predators:
Birds of prey and occasionally animals such as cats if they can get to a swifts nest
Lifespan:
Usually 9-10 years but potentially over 20 years
Threats:
A loss of nesting sites due to building renovations and modern building practices, and a decline in insects due to pesticide use and climate change.
Conservation status:
Near threatened in Europe
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