#common swift

[mushbeast]

common swift

[blogbirdfeather]

Common Swift - Andorinhão-preto (Apus apus)

Cruz Quebrada/Portugal (3/06/2025)

[NIkon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR]

[officialweezerelections]

EXPLANATIONS:

Common Swift

Common Swift

- Apus Apus lives in the air. Apus Apus sleeps in the air. Mates in the air. They spend 10 months airborne in their non-breeding period. THAT'S REALLY FUCKED. 10 months, that's an entire human pregnancy + some time. Ultimately there are surely more fucked up birds but it's something to consider for sure!

Magnificent Frigatebird

- Sea bird that eats fish and squid but can't swim; their feathers aren't waterproof and their legs are too short to paddle, but they do have webbed feet; they have a 7.5 ft wingspan (larger than a bald eagle) and the largest wing to body size ratio of any bird; can withstand near-hurricane force winds; have a bright red throat pouch that males inflate (inflation can take up to 20 min) during mating displays (they mate every other year); they steal regurgitated food from other birds by holding the other bird's tail in their (the fregata magnificens) beak or feet and shaking them (in mid-air!) until they throw it up; steals and eats eggs and chicks from other birds; their chicks stay in the nest for 167 days after hatching and are fed by their mothers until they are one year old

[proton-wobbler]

Great Backyard Bird Off - Cosmopolitan Birds (poll 5)

Bird Info & Submission Reasons

Common Swift (Apus apus)

Continents: Africa, Asia, Europe

"Swallows are really neat but swifts are so cool and fast and brilliant. Their colour is beautiful. They are not passeriformes, which is also cool, and their feet are SO WEIRD"

"I love swifts, we got them in the street I grew up in every summer. The swifts' arrival means the beginning of summer to me, and when they leave, almost mysteriously, it's the end. We had a nest in the eaves just above our bathroom window, and swifts would return to it every year. I can't go back to where I grew up easily any more, and the sound and sight of swifts overhead always feels like the glimpse of a hug from home. One of my favourite things in the world is a sky full of gathering grey clouds and screaming, wheeling swifts ahead of a breaking summer storm. Submitting from the UK."

"they're sooo fast. so fast. and i love their little cacophonies"

"They don’t exactly live in your back garden but they’re a bird you often see zipping along through the air. In the Netherlands, seeing the first ones of the year really reminds you that spring and summer are coming. There’s a saying that when you see this birds flying low, it’s going to start raining hard very soon and they’ve never let me down. Also, these birds are hardcore. Unless they’re chicks or taking care of their own young, they’re flying around 99% of the time. They sleep in the air, they have sex in the air, they spend the first 3 years of their life never landing— until the time comes to raise their young. Isn’t that cool!!!"

Red-backed shrike (Lanius collurio)

Continents: Europe, Africa, Asia

"Woke up at 5 to see them. Worth it. Beautiful birds"

Handsome small shrike. Male distinctive, with blue-gray head, black mask, rusty-brown back; female has warm brown upperparts, fine dark scalloping on breast and flanks. Found in open areas with scattered bushes and trees, such as heathland, overgrown orchards, and open farmland with hedges and scattered bushes; especially favors areas with thorny plants on which prey (small birds, large insects, rodents) can be impaled in "larders." Hunts from perches atop bushes and on wires, but at other times is retiring and easily overlooked. Listen for harsh, rough-sounding calls. Song is a rather quiet warble, often with mimicked elements. (eBird)

Image Sources: Swift (Anonymous); Shrike (Ana Amaral)

[autistrix]

[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106822459]

Common Swift || Apus apus

Observed in France

Near Threatened in location of observation

[bitsandbirds]

I was so excited when I saw that I had finally managed to get a swift pic that wasn't a silhouette! It is really satisfying to get good shots of the aerial summer birds because of how hard it is to catch them in a clean shot like this.

Common Swift (Apus apus), Ireland

[emaadsidiki]

What an Eiffel!

[critter-creature-or-beast]

trick or treat !!!

Perhaps a prince of the skies would like an animal that spends a lot of time in the skies: a common swift, the record holder for longest uninterrupted flight-- 10 months!

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

photo source

[etchif]

[certified-pinkwasher]

i love how like every observation of common swifts on inaturalist looks like this

this ones mine :3

[blogbirdfeather]

Common Swift - Andorinhão-preto (Apus apus)

Vila Franca de Xira/Portugal (12/07/2024)

[Nikon D500; AF-S Nikkor 500mm F5,6E PF ED VR; 1/2500s; F5,6; 500 ISO]

[officialweezerelections]

EXPLANATIONS:

- Ok it's not actually their fault but we just... don't know where to put them in the phylogenetic scheme of things. Current consensus is that they belong in their own group that isn't (new world) Warblers or Blackbirds, and that seems pretty reasonable. For some reason old white guys thought they were warblers despite the fact they are twice as big as the next biggest wood warbler species, their feet and bill are blue (warblers don't do that), and they're mimics (afaik warblers don't do that). BUT!! There has been a reported hybrid of a Chat and Oriole (type of nw blackbird) called a Choriole. So they are related at some point.

- Ok it's not actually their fault but we just... don't know where to put them in the phylogenetic scheme of things. Current consensus is that they belong in their own group that isn't (new world) Warblers or Blackbirds, and that seems pretty reasonable. For some reason old white guys thought they were warblers despite the fact they are twice as big as the next biggest wood warbler species, their feet and bill are blue (warblers don't do that), and they're mimics (afaik warblers don't do that). BUT!! There has been a reported hybrid of a Chat and Oriole (type of nw blackbird) called a Choriole. So they are related at some point.

- so technically it's not this birds fault that its fucked up- its our systems of classifying animals. This big ass bird got grouped in with warblers at one point because old white men invading this country are dumb, but its actually in its own family group- all on its own. BUT! Despite being in a different family, there are reports that Chat have hybridized with Orioles (the new-world blackbird kind). Warblers and Blackbirds are more derived than other songbirds but its still crazy that Chats, who are in neither family, can still have viable offspring with one. Makes me wonder what else they've hybridized with.

- Pollrunner note: I think maybe it is their fault they’re like this. I think maybe they’re like this on purpose. (Also I think both of these submissions came from the same person but it’s okay. Peace and love on planet bird.)

Common Swift

- Apus Apus lives in the air. Apus Apus sleeps in the air. Mates in the air. They spend 10 months airborne in their non-breeding period. THAT'S REALLY FUCKED. 10 months, that's an entire human pregnancy + some time. Ultimately there are surely more fucked up birds but it's something to consider for sure!

[nature-nerd-sarah]

Who needs streaming services when you can sit outside and watch swifts fly high overhead?

[itwasmeanttobr]

[on-a-twig]

Common swift