by Matthew Cobb
The nightjar is only my second favourite bird. My favourite is the swift, Apus apus. They are currently zooming about in Africa, but will soon be making their flight back north, to Europe. They arrive in Manchester around 1 May, stay until about 15 August, and are the sound of summer with their evocative screeching as they hunt in packs.
This fantastic photo by – I think – @PhilipMillns popped up in my Tw*tter feed, re-tw**eted by @SaveOurSwifts:
It’s hard to see what insect the swift is about to nom, but it looks like it has two pairs of wings…
Philip tw**eted “many shots to get sharp not the sharpest but wow”. Indeed, wow.
Here’s another superb photo of a swift in flight, taken by Richard Ford (@digitalwildlife):
It’ll be a couple of months before this sight appears in my skies. Can’t wait.
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The second picture makes the swift look like a piranha in flight.
In pre-evolutionary concepts of natural affinity and classification, birds were often placed nearer to fish than to reptiles. Now I can see why.
I remember someone telling me that flying dreams were really memories of our fishy lives. 🙂
Yeah, I thought he looked like a fish too – the feathers take on a scaly appearance & it reminds me of a flying fish of some sort.
I have seen Swallows and Martins heading across the straits from Africa to Spain this week, as yet no Swifts. Also heading across are flocks of Black Kites, Storks should be starting soon. Great to be on the flight path at the moment.
Those are amazing photos. To catch them on the wing like that. Often they’re either too fast or too far.
Yes! Achieving pictures like those must have involved a serious risk of a dislocated neck!
Totally agree with your esteem for both swifts and nightjars. Impatiently awaiting their arrival here in north-east England!
Swifts have one of the shortest stays in Europe of all our summer migrants and as you suggest are the very essence of summer. Their numbers are declining – partly it seems because modern buildings provide few spaces into which they can make their nests. It is possible to put artificial swift nest-holes into buildings and planning authorities should be encouraged to include this as a condition of building consents wherever practicable.
I was in Trim, Ireland summer 1.5 years ago and they were still quite common there — but that place has no shortage of old buildings. Swifts were zipping all around above the business district, much to my enjoyment.
At least I can find these.
Here in Geneva, we should soon be seeing Swifts – the ones with a white tummy first, then the Black Swifts. At about the same time, the Black Kites will be sweeping in and occupying the skies for several months. They sometimes fly right by my windows, and the sight is amazing. I have taken both pictures and short, shaky videos of them circling in the sky. Wonderful creatures! We also get Buzzards (hawks) at the same time. We can tell them apart from the Black Kites by the shape of their tails.
Harbinger, shmarbinger. Summer here already, has been for a couple weeks. No winter to speak of, and we blew right through Spring. Now, the only question is how much longer Summer will last before Hell kicks in…and whether or not we’re in for Hotter Than this year….
b&
Ben–if the spring thaw comes as expected here–in a couple of weeks–we will have had snow on the ground for 100 days. One hundred days w/o seeing grass. This is ridiculous!
And a lot of flooding. I expect city infrastructures are going to be challenged & country ponds & rivers are going to breach their banks!
Yep, there’s already a lot of worry about that.
And, meanwhile, the decades-long drought continues in Arizona (at what point is it no longer a drought and simply normal?), and the California economy is teetering due to their own drought. And let’s not forget that California feeds much of the rest of the country and the world, and their economy drives much of the rest of the country….
b&
I was in Texas for a week in January, and their drought continues too. They were even mowing some of their “lakes.”
For better or for worse, it’s not going to last.
Oh, sure, the drought may well go on for centuries — it’s happened before. What won’t last is too many people sucking too much water out of the ground too fast.
b&
The sad thing is, some people have been saying that for decades (esp. WRT AZ!); to no avail.
I know. For what it’s worth, even Slate is running articles on how Tucson is already running short on water while they’re projected to double their population by mid-century.
Ain’t gonna happen. No way, no how can Tucson sustain another doubling of its population. Nor can the planet….
b&
That’s not just ridiculous, it’s depressing.
Who says the climate isn’t changing?
b&
You bet it’s depressing! Yes, things are getting very scary.
Tremendous photos! Swifts are definitely a favorite of mine too–surprisingly common here in the summers when you know what to listen for.
Already back here in Taiwan (Pacific split-tailed swifts), but no eggs for a few more weeks. I have two pairs who have nested
on the side of a beam on the overhang of my porch. It’s nice to sit there in the evening and watch them feeding the young- my cats find it fascinating too, judging fromhow much time they sit there gazing longingly upward