What do swift birds eat

Diets based on cheese, cat food, any meat or other non-insect food, are ultimately fatal Fuste Occasionally an adult will meet with an accident and plummet to the ground, in which case it may need rehabilitating. If you find a grounded Swift, the priority is to make it safe by carefully picking it up and putting it in a box, then closing the lid to enable it to calm down.

Three years ago, the same research team at Lund University observed that within the species common swift, Apus apus there were individuals that live in the air for up to ten consecutive months without landing - a world record for being airborne. A different research team has also shown that the alpine swift could live largely in the air.

The results show that the birds are in the air without landing for between two and three and a half months, depending on the individual. They feed exclusively on insects and only come to land when nesting. Their survival is dependent on the abundance of insects. Parent swifts collect insects to take back to their chicks — up to 1, at once, which make a big bulge in their throat.

When they have chicks to feed, swifts can gather as many as , insects a day. They spend three to three-and-a-half months in Africa and a similar time breeding - the rest is spent on the wing, flying home or away.

Unsuccessful breeders, fledglings, and reproductively immature year-old birds are the first to leave their breeding area. Breeding males follow next, and finally the breeding females as they stay longer in the nest to rebuild their fat reserves. In order to communicate with each other Common swifts give loud screams. They often form 'screaming parties' during summer evenings, when swifts will gather in flight around their nesting area, calling out and being answered by nesting swifts.

Larger 'screaming parties' are formed at higher altitudes, especially late in the breeding season. The purpose of these parties is uncertain but may include ascending to sleep on the wing, while still breeding adults tend to spend the night in the nest. Common swifts are carnivores insectivores. They feed on flying insects such as moths, beetles, flies, and also eat spiders and ants. Common swifts are monogamous. They form pairs that may remain together for years and often return to the same nesting site year after year.

The breeding season occurs in spring, generally from March to June according to the range. Common swifts build their nests of air-borne material caught in flight, bonded with their saliva, in suitable buildings hollows, such as under tiles, in gaps beneath window sills, and most typically under eaves and within gables. The female lays white eggs and both adults share the incubation during days.

The chicks hatch altricial; they are blind and naked and brooded continuously in the first week. The nestlings usually fledge between days and become reproductively mature at 2 years of age. Common swifts are widespread and abundant and are not considered globally threatened.

However, the population of these birds is declining due to the loss of suitable nest sites through building renovation and due to declines in the numbers of their insect prey. The European population consists of 19,,,, pairs, which equates to 38,,,, mature individuals.

Common Swift European swift, Swift.