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Swift on Käsmu church wall

 

 

Its older name in many languages contains „swallow“, from the external similarity with swallows, such as piiripääsuke (Estonian), tornsvala (Swedish). The swift however is not even a passerine but belongs to the Apodiformes (the “footless”) order of birds, and is a relative of the nightjar. It is a bird with a stocky body and a broad, flat head. The plumage is blackish-brown, a lighter patch under the chin, long scythe-shaped wings, a relatively short and forked tail. Legs are small and short and  not particularly well adapted for walking on the ground.

 

Swifts nest in cities and communities in parks as well as gardens, but also at the North Estonian bank shore. The nest is made in tree hollows, in existing nestboxes, but also in various technical installations of the communities. The abundance is by no means small, around a hundred thousand birds nest in Estonia.

 

 

 What to do if you find a swift on the ground?

 

It should definitely be helped to take flight. It allows itself to be caught quite easily and now there are two possibilities: the first, and probably the best, is to throw the swift into the air: so it gets wind in the wings in a moment. Should the bird have some more serious problem it will land again on the ground. Then not much more can be done than to leave it alone. Setting the bird in some higher spot may be tried: by letting itself drop it can catch wind in the wings and be gone in a moment. The large wings are a hindrance in taking flight from grass.

 

The video shows how the swift tries to climb up on the foundation of the Käsmu church, to be able to drop from a somewhat greater height and catch wind in the wings. Ornithologists have the hypothesis that fledged young swifts spend the first 2-3 years after leaving the nest in the air, never landing at all until sexual maturity. It is estimated that the master flyer flies about 190 000 kilometres annually.