Comm Swift Project

[mark smyth]

hi all

Assuming everyone knows how to tell the difference between Swifts, Swallows and Martins would you like to take part in a programme to register the arrival dates for Common Swifts Apus apus? We need people across Europe especially if you are not in the shaded areas of this map. Send your sighting to Ulrich at swift@gmxDOTorg You need to send in your coordinates also

[mark smyth]

here's how to tell them apart (C) phenology web site

[mark smyth]

just now, and very exciting, I had a swift inspect one of my boxes. Inspecting simply means a close fly past

[mark smyth]

here's a family of swifts on Youtube
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=TATv62gsT8U

[Anthony Darby]

Brings back happy memories of rearing a foundling swift on moths, until its appetite increased 10 fold (due to exercising its wings constantly all day) forced us to take more drastic action and supplement its diet with 'Minced Morsals' (yes, the doggy food advertised by Clement Freud and his double - a bloodhound) and lots of water. It eventually flew through the kitchen door, through my dad's legs and over the back wall while he was paying the milkman (remember them?).

[mark smyth]

Anthony any swifts around your house yet? Two swifts today inspecting one of my boxes made me very late for work by 25 minutes. I was willing them to go in.

Anyone interested in the Europe wide swift project? All you need are two or three nest boxes, buy or make your own, cheap CD player from Tesco or similar and a cheap car speaker.

And most important a two storey, or more, house with a clear flight path in and out

http://www.londons-swifts.org.uk/

[mark smyth]

I'm sure you have heard that Swifts mate while flying? Here is the proof
http://www.ezo.wur.nl:80/UK/Press/Swift+photos/

[Maggi Young]

Mark, while looking at  your link we were distracted by your awful avatar... so Ian, fermi and i have taken an executive decision to change it for you... how do you like the look?

[mark smyth]

not as nice as me. I'll have to sort it out tomorrow

[mark smyth]

This is what swifts are up against

[Anthony Darby]

Looks like all they've done is changed the colour of the sh1te! OK if they intend to replace with purpose built nest boxes.

[mark smyth]

The problem is usually that starlings nest first, make the mess and the swifts lose out

[Anthony Darby]

Looks like starling mess. I block up all starling sized holes in the roof. It's bad enough with Rudolf the red nosed - er yellow beaked black bird waking me up at 4 a.m. without hearing a starling family two feet away from my lugs. (BTW I call him Rudolf as his song is a variation on the first five notes of the song. )

[Martin Baxendale]

Every year a whole bunch of swifts arrive here and spend the summer racing and wheeling around over just a short stretch of road and gardens , always exactly the same stretch, never a hundred yards up the hill or down. It's amazing. I guess there must be a property in the vicinity that's ideal for nesting and roosting. But why do they always feed over exactly the same stretch of road and gardens every day, and nowhere else? Really is great when they arrive. An integral part of our summer and really fantastic to watch on a summer's evening. They really are the boy racers of the bird world...but a bit quieter than the boy racers on the roads around here!

[mark smyth]

Martin what you see is a territorial display not feeding. Feeding swifts are the ones that you may often see crossing motorways in groups flying with a purpose often in a straight line. They also feed on the down wind side of a lake just hanging in the air waiting for food to come passed or over rivers when there is a large hatch of flies. Favourite food is spiders and hoverflies. All the swifts in your,loose, colony do these screaming aerial displays mostly in the evening and dawn. These are the breeders or those that have lost their nest sites. Arriving soon will be the second wave made up of non breeders and those coming of age. The latter need to find a nest site and hang on to it. The main problem with swifts is sharing nest sites with starlings. People get fed up and close the hole. Reducing the hole to 3x2.5cm stops the starlings.

Is your house suitable for swift boxes? Guaranteed no mess!