Common Swift

Can be confused withSource

• Barn Swallow — The swallows are pale below with twittering voices and perch readily on wires; the Swift is dark throughout, screams, and never perches in the open.

Plumage and variationSource

Male and female: Sexes alike in plumage.

VoiceSource

Loud shrill screams in two pitches — the higher from the female. In summer "screaming parties" of 10–20 birds chase around the nest sites.

BehaviourSource

Lives on the wing: feeds, drinks, mates and sleeps aloft, with deep quick wingbeats and long glides. The very short legs serve only for clinging to vertical surfaces; in cold wet spells the young can go torpid for days.

When and whereSource

A widespread breeder in most of the country — but not west Jutland, where the wind scatters insects at hunting height. Nests in niches in masonry, faithfully returning to the exact same site; winters in southern Africa.

Facts

RelativesSource