Frequently asked questions about swifts

Do not throw it or force it to fly. A healthy adult can take off from a suitable surface or the palm of a hand, but a swift on the ground, or unable to start or sustain flight, may be weak, dehydrated, traumatised, injured, ill, exhausted or stunned after a collision. Protect it in a ventilated cardboard box and seek specialist assessment.

It needs help if it is on the ground, has fallen from a nest, remains motionless, allows itself to be picked up without trying to escape, has a drooping wing or asymmetrical wings, has blood or wounds, has difficulty breathing, keeps its eyes closed or half-closed, appears very weak, cannot maintain a normal posture, trembles or lacks coordination, has been caught by a cat, has hit a window, is wet or contaminated, has become trapped, or cannot start or sustain flight.

A swift chick found outside the nest needs help. It may have down, feathers still in their sheaths, incompletely developed wings, a short tail or insufficient muscle development for flight. Pick it up carefully, protect it in a ventilated cardboard box and contact a specialist centre or Agentes Forestales or environmental officers as soon as possible.

Do not pull the animal or force its wings, legs, feathers or joints. Observe how it is trapped without putting yourself at risk, take photographs if you can do so without causing more stress, and seek specialist help. If you manage to free it by following instructions, keep it afterwards in a ventilated cardboard box and report exactly what happened.

Treat this as an entrapment requiring assessment. Do not pull it or try to get it out by forcing its wings or feathers. Document the situation if you can do so safely and contact a specialist centre, Agentes Forestales or environmental officers, or emergency services if a safe intervention is needed.

Pick it up and keep it in a ventilated cardboard box. Do not improvise cleaning, feeding, giving water or release. Tell the centre or officers whether it was wet, had fallen into dirty water or had oil, soot or other substances on it, as this information may help assess the case.

Keep it in a ventilated, securely closed cardboard box lined with clean kitchen paper. Put the box somewhere quiet, away from noise and pets, direct sunlight, excessive heat and draughts. Handle it only as much as absolutely necessary.

Use a ventilated cardboard box for temporary care. Do not keep it in a cage: it may collide with the bars, get caught or repeatedly try to escape. The cardboard box must be ventilated and securely closed, allow the bird to rest comfortably, and not give it room to try to fly and injure itself.

Line the bottom with clean kitchen paper. As well as providing a simple, hygienic surface, the cardboard box can provide useful information: droppings, blood, food remains or parasites should be reported to the centre, but should not be interpreted as a diagnosis without specialist assessment.

As little as absolutely necessary. Do not force its wings open, pull its feathers, examine its throat, force its joints or try to check for fractures. Anyone without training should limit themselves to visible observations and keeping it protected until they receive instructions.

This is not advisable. The ventilated cardboard box should be comfortable enough, but without room for it to try to fly and injure itself. Nor should it be thrown or forced to fly in a room, from a balcony, window or elevated place.

You can report whether it is alert or subdued, opens its eyes, holds its head upright, breathes with its beak open or makes sounds when breathing, has ruffled feathers, has symmetrical wings or a drooping wing, is bleeding, shows unusual movements, can support itself and responds to its surroundings. Do not palpate it or carry out invasive handling.

If you can take them without causing more stress, take a photograph from above showing the whole body, another showing the head and face, and additional photographs if there is a visible injury. Photographs can help the centre or officers, but must not delay protecting the animal or contacting specialist help.

Prepare the exact location, date and time; whether it was on the ground, pavement, road or in a courtyard; whether it was wet or stained; whether a cat, window, chimney, extractor or building work was involved; how long it has been in your care; whether it has received food, water or medication; and whether it has tried to fly and what happened. If it came from a nest affected by building work, mention this so other nests in the colony can be assessed.

Transport it in a ventilated, securely closed cardboard box lined with clean kitchen paper and without room for it to try to fly. Keep the box stable and quiet, away from direct sunlight, excessive heat, draughts and pets. Always follow instructions from the centre or officers.

Keep the swift in a ventilated cardboard box in a quiet, protected place, away from direct sunlight, excessive heat, draughts and pets. Do not improvise food, water or medication, put it in a cage or force it to fly. Keep trying to contact a CRFS, Agentes Forestales or environmental officers, a specialist organisation or emergency services if the situation requires it. There is no single waiting time that can safely apply to every case.

It should not be kept for several days without seeking specialist help. Care by members of the public should be temporary and aimed at protecting it while arranging contact or transport. Do not improvise prolonged care, feeding, hydration, medication or rehabilitation at home.

An active nest or the entrance to a nesting cavity must not be blocked or destroyed. A small cavity may be a breeding site reused for years, and swifts show strong fidelity to their building, colony and particular cavity. Document the situation if safe and contact Agentes Forestales, environmental officers or the responsible environmental authority.

You should reduce stress and leave it quietly in a ventilated cardboard box while seeking help. After a collision, a swift may look stunned and appear to recover after resting, but may also have trauma, internal injuries, wing damage or neurological problems. Do not devise your own test or throw it to see whether it can fly.

Do not throw it or consider the case resolved if there was a collision, weakness, a fall to the ground or any other uncertainty. After a collision it may appear to recover while still having internal injuries, wing damage or neurological problems. Keep it protected in a ventilated cardboard box and consult a specialist centre.

It should not be considered if there is any suspicion of injury or illness, weakness, difficulty breathing, wounds, asymmetrical wings, abnormal posture, incomplete plumage, remaining feather sheaths or uncertainty about its development. Nor should it be used to find out whether an animal of uncertain condition is well. If in doubt, specialist assessment takes priority.

If it clings to the hand, backs away, falls or cannot sustain flight, it may not be ready or there may be a problem. Do not force it to leave or keep trying repeatedly. If it fails after two attempts made in safe conditions, stop the test and contact a specialist centre.

Yes. Dehydration is common in chicks that have fallen from nests, animals exposed to heat, weakened birds, birds that have gone without food for some time, stressed animals and birds with diarrhoea or other fluid losses. Proper assessment depends on weight, age, body temperature, degree of dehydration and clinical condition, so do not improvise hydration yourself.

Do this only if a CRFS or professional has expressly instructed you to, and follow their instructions exactly. Do not put water directly inside the beak, force the animal to drink, or use syringes or droppers unless clearly instructed to do so. If the instructions are not precise, make contact again before acting.

Swifts are specialised aerial insectivores. An unsuitable diet can cause digestive damage, poor growth, nutritional deficiencies, muscle abnormalities, deformed or fragile plumage, loss of flight ability and reduced survival after release. Even if the bird can initially fly, defective plumage may prevent it from surviving storms, migrating, catching food or escaping predators.

Their bodies support fast, prolonged and efficient flight: long, narrow, sickle-shaped wings, a streamlined body, a short beak with a very wide mouth for catching insects in flight, extremely short legs and clawed feet for clinging to surfaces and entering cavities. Their legs are not adapted for walking normally on the ground.

Some studied individuals have been recorded remaining continuously airborne for approximately the ten months outside the breeding season. Others may land occasionally for short periods, although they still spend more than 99% of that time in the air. This finding comes from individuals tracked with devices and does not mean they all behave in exactly the same way.

It can feed in flight, drink water in flight, rest or sleep while flying, migrate long distances, remain airborne for months and, in some cases, mate in flight. During breeding it uses the nest for laying eggs, incubation, raising chicks and resting, and mating may take place both in flight and in the nest.

It drinks through a precise manoeuvre over bodies of water: descending, slowing before contact and touching the surface with its beak during a low pass. In a sample of 163 reconstructed manoeuvres, the average speed at contact was about 11.7 m/s, approximately 42 km/h.

Prolonged aerial life implies that swifts must rest or sleep in flight, but the exact mechanism has not been demonstrated directly through electroencephalographic recordings in Apus apus. Unihemispheric sleep is known in other birds, but must not be presented as a proven mechanism in the common swift.

During the prolonged aerial phase, climbs around dawn and dusk have been observed, reaching approximately 2.5 kilometres in altitude. Their exact function has not been demonstrated. They have been proposed to relate to atmospheric, weather or orientation information, but should not be described as fully understood behaviour or as exclusively associated with sleep.

It is a specialised aerial insectivore. It feeds on small flying organisms forming the aerial plankton, such as flies, mosquitoes, flying ants, small hymenopterans, true bugs, lacewings and other small insects or arthropods. It catches food in flight with its open mouth acting as a collector.

The common swift breeds across much of the Palaearctic and is mainly a summer visitor to Spain. It returns from Africa in spring, occupying colonies mainly between April and May, and most birds leave the colonies between late July and August. It winters mainly in Africa south of the equator. Geolocator studies show complex routes, rather than a single simple route for all European swifts.

During particular phases of spring migration, daily stages exceeding 1,000 km have been estimated. For swifts from northern Europe, average spring migration speeds of about 570 km/day and a maximum of 832 km/day maintained for nine days were also estimated. These are movement estimates obtained using geolocators, not continuous tracks measured by GPS.

It can change direction at different stages of its journey, adjust its movements to wind conditions and compensate for wind drift during migration. Like other migratory birds, it probably combines different sources of orientation information, but the precise sensory cues used by Apus apus and how it integrates them are not known.

They nest inside protected cavities: gaps beneath roofs, cracks in façades, building voids, spaces beneath tiles, eaves, putlog holes, wall cavities, rock faces and, occasionally, tree holes. In Spain they now nest almost exclusively in human-made structures.

It builds a small cup of feathers, plant fibres and other light materials collected in flight. It uses saliva to bind these materials together.

The species shows strong fidelity to its mate, building, colony and particular nesting site. Many pairs return to the same site each year, and long-term monitoring studies have measured nesting-site reuse close to 94% among adults observed breeding in successive years.

Swifts show lasting memory of their breeding site, but the precise cues they use to identify the particular nest entrance are not known. Spatial memory and visual landmarks probably play a part, although the exact sensory mechanism remains unknown.

Breeding takes place mainly between May and July. It usually lays one clutch a year, normally of two or three eggs, although occasionally there may be one to four. Both parents incubate the eggs, feed the chicks and take part in raising them.

Leaving the nest depends on complex physical and aerodynamic preparation. Young birds leave at approximately 40–45 days, when their plumage and physical development allow independent flight. During the final stage they may lose weight while their wings continue developing, and experimental studies suggest they adjust body mass and wing area to achieve suitable wing loading.

Unlike other birds, the swift does not normally have a fledgling stage in which its parents care for it on the ground or branches. When it leaves the nest it must be able to sustain flight, gain height, feed itself and manage independently. This is why a young swift found on the ground needs to be picked up and assessed.

Torpor is a reversible physiological state that saves energy. During adverse weather, insect availability may fall, adults may temporarily move away, and chicks may reduce activity and metabolism to conserve energy. An average metabolic reduction of approximately 56% has been measured in wild swifts. This adaptation must not be turned into advice to leave a chick that has been found without care.

Plumage should be uniform, with aligned feathers, cohesive barbs, adequate density and complete flight feathers. Abnormal growth marks or stress marks may indicate disturbances during feather formation, such as lack of food, physical stress, illness or other physiological problems. They cannot by themselves diagnose a particular cause without specialist assessment.

Threats include nest destruction, building renovations without protective measures, loss of cavities in modern buildings, work during the breeding season, loss of colonies, pesticide use, declining insect numbers and climatic effects. The relationship between climate, insects and breeding must not be presented as a simple chain: temperature, rain and wind have different effects depending on timing, intensity and population.

Several questions remain open: the exact mechanism of sleep in flight in Apus apus has not been demonstrated directly; the precise function of twilight climbs is still not established; the particular sensory cues it uses to navigate are not precisely known; nor is it known exactly how it identifies the particular nest entrance after returning from Africa.

It is not like many other birds: the swift does not normally have a fledgling stage in which its parents care for it on the ground or branches. If it has fallen, its parents will not come down to feed it; protect it in a ventilated cardboard box and seek advice as soon as possible.

Pick it up, keep it in a ventilated cardboard box and do not release it straight away. Even without visible wounds, contact with a cat can cause small or deep injuries requiring urgent assessment.

Do not throw it to see whether it can fly. Protect it in a ventilated cardboard box in a quiet place and consult a specialist centre, as it may have trauma, internal injuries or flight problems even if it seems to recover.

No. If it is weak, injured or not yet ready, it may fall and suffer further harm. A flight test never involves throwing or launching the animal from a height.

Do not use it to find out whether an animal of uncertain condition is well. If there is any doubt about injury, weakness, development or plumage, seek specialist assessment. Remember: a swift must never be thrown, and this guidance must not be turned into a release procedure.

Do not give food or water without specialist instructions, and do not put water directly into its beak. An unsuitable diet can affect its development and plumage, which is essential for flight and survival after release.

A ventilated cardboard box reduces stress, prevents collisions and stops it trying to fly indoors or in an unsafe space. It should be lined with kitchen paper and should not be so large that it can flap and injure itself.

Do not remove the nest or block the entrance to the cavity. Swifts usually breed in building cavities and show strong site fidelity, so closing an active nesting cavity can have serious consequences; document the situation if safe and contact Agentes Forestales, environmental officers or the responsible environmental authority.