Species Guide: Common Swift (Apus apus)
Family: Hirundinidae
APPEARANCE
The Common Swift is a distinctive bird characterized by its sooty brown plumage, long pointed wings, and forked tail. When seen up close, you may also spot that they have a pale throat patch.
Diet
These agile birds rely on their speed to capture flying insects.
HABITAT
Common Swifts are summer migrants, traveling to the British Isles each year to breed and returning via the Sahara Desert to sub-Saharan Africa for the remainder of the year. They typically arrive into the UK in April and depart by August or September. They favor human-populated areas to breed including towns and villages. You may though find them across a range of habitats.
Note that this map is for a rough illustration of animal distribution across the UK1, whereby light green indicates established breeding populations.
Behavior
Remarkably, swifts spend the majority of their lives in flight, even sleeping and mating while airborne, and they only come to the ground when nesting.
Swifts are monogamous and mate for life, returning each year to the same nesting sites. Historically, they nested in natural cavities like large trees, cliffs, and crevices. However, the swift population in the British Isles primarily depends on buildings for nesting locations. They typically build their nests under the eaves of older structures, utilizing materials they catch in flight and bonding them together with their saliva.
Female swifts usually lay two to three eggs, which incubate for up to four weeks. The nestlings remain in the nest for up to eight weeks before fledging.
The bird has a thin, high-pitched call.
Swift call:
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STATS
| Wing Length2 | 169-181 mm |
| Body Weight2 | 34-45.2 grams |
| Longevity2 | 9 Years |
NATURAL PREDATORS
Eurasian Hobbies and the Sparrowhawk are the Common Swift’s main predators. The Common Swift’s speed and agility enable them to out-fly most predators.
Conservation Status
The Common Swift population in the UK has experienced a significant decline, with estimates indicating a drop of over 66% between 1995 and 2022. The primary reasons for this are uncertain, an increase in infant mortality has been suggested.
U.K.
Conservation Status
Global
Conservation Status
