Common Swift
Apus apus
Outside the breeding season the swift practically never lands: it feeds, drinks and sleeps on the wing. Although it looks similar to swallows, it is not closely related to them and appears uniformly dark with sickle-shaped wings in flight.
- Group
- Swallows & Swifts
- Photos
- 1
- Taken
- 2025
Profile: Common Swift
- Family
- Swifts (Apodidae)
- Size
- approx. 17–18.5 cm
- Wingspan
- approx. 40–44 cm
- Weight
- approx. 40 g
- Habitat
- Nowadays breeds mainly in towns and villages in cavities of tall buildings, originally in cliffs and tree holes; hunts in open airspace.
- Diet
- Small flying insects and spiders caught on the wing – the “aerial plankton”.
- When to see
- Long-distance migrant wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. In Central Europe only present from about late April/early May to early August.
Learn more: Wikipedia · NABU (German)