Mysterious guests beneath our roofs
The rapid aerial displays and lively, shrill calls of Common Swifts (Apus apus) chasing high in the skies are a familiar sight over our cities in late spring and summer. Swifts are often confused with swallows, to which they are not related.
These fascinating creatures with their enigmatic, dark eyes and narrow, sickle-shaped wings spend almost their entire lives in flight and even sleep in the air. Among all bird species on Earth, the Common Swift is the one most extremely and perfectly adapted to life in the air.
The restless master fliers spend most of the year in continuous flight over the African continent. Unlike other migratory birds, they do not seek a fixed winter quarter, but always follow the most favorable weather and food conditions. From mid-April to mid-May they return to Europe to breed and raise their young, before most of them set off on the great journey again in early August. The young birds, who are completely independent from the moment they fledge, find their way entirely on their own and migrate independently of their parents.