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Swifts are a family of highly aerial birds with short legs and long wings. They are related to hummingbirds and have diverse habitats, behaviors, and nesting strategies.
Sep 17, 2024 · Learn about swift, a family of agile, fast-flying birds with long wings and short tails. Find out how swifts nest, feed, and use echolocation in caves and other dark places.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn about the common swift, a medium-sized bird that spends most of its life in flight and never lands voluntarily. Find out its taxonomy, description, behaviour, breeding, migration, and conservation status.
- Emily Hannemann
- Chimney Swifts Love to Fly. Chimney swifts are very fast fliers and spend most of their lives in midair. They eat, drink and mate while flying, only stopping to raise young.
- Swifts Roost in Large Numbers. When roosting, up to 35,000 Vaux’s swifts may gather in one site. Discover why some species flock with other birds in winter.
- Chimney Swifts Are Losing Nesting Sites. Unfortunately chimney swifts are a species of conservation concern. They originally nested in old tree stumps then wood fence posts.
- Chimney Swifts Are Crafty Nest Builders. One way chimney swifts adapted to habitat loss is using their saliva to stick their nests to houses. Learn about 8 different kinds of bird nests and how to spot them.
The Swift is a medium-sized aerial bird, which is a superb flyer. Sleeping, eating, bathing and even mating on the wing (while flying), Swifts rarely touch the ground. They are also the fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of 69mph.
Swifts are a group of fast-flying acrobatic birds with long wings and small legs. They live in various habitats across the world, catch insects in the air, and roost on vertical surfaces.
Learn about the swift, a small brown bird that spends its life on the wing, feeding on insects and nesting in old buildings. Find out how to identify, hear and spot this fast and agile aerial master.
