Preserving Existing Breeding Colonies
The Common Swift is highly faithful to its site and, for its nesting places in Germany, is almost exclusively dependent on human buildings. Once a breeding colony has been established, it is used for decades. During renovations and roof work, countless old swift colonies are sealed up, partly out of ignorance, partly deliberately, because people mistakenly fear dirt and vermin. Modern architecture hardly provides any more nooks and crannies for breeding. Breeding conditions are therefore deteriorating from year to year, and if the current trend continues, the Common Swift will soon be among the threatened species.
Creating New Nesting Opportunities
Since the number of swift breeding sites used over many years is steadily declining, it is necessary to open up new nesting places. Breeding sites are much sought after and fiercely contested, for countless swifts never get the chance to breed in the course of their lives because of the lack of nesting places. During renovations or roof work, ideal nesting opportunities for swifts can often be created without much effort. There is already good experience with new nesting places being accepted in the form of nest bricks or nest boxes, provided they are installed close to existing colonies.
Avoiding Man-Made Hazards
The trend towards huge glass surfaces as a building element has considerably increased the risk of accidents for birds in towns and cities, especially for fast aerial hunters such as swifts and swallows. There is an urgent need to prevent pointless bird deaths by frosting the glass appropriately or by similar measures.
Another source of danger is collisions with vehicles, above all in bad weather, when swifts and swallows searching for food hunt just above the carriageways of major roads. Announcements on radio and television and temporary speed limits could reduce the risk both to birds and to people.
Expert Veterinary Care for Injured Swifts
As a bird that flies continuously and migrates over long distances, the Common Swift is subject to extreme living conditions. Assessing injuries therefore requires very specialised knowledge (consult a veterinarian specialising in birds). In the Common Swift, certain injuries, for example wing fractures, have to be assessed quite differently and far more uncompromisingly than in other wild birds. Only in this way can the birds concerned be spared avoidable suffering, pain and harm in accordance with Section 1 of the German Animal Welfare Act.
Restoring the Ability to Survive in the Wild
Under Section 20g (4) of the German Federal Nature Conservation Act, the aim of every treatment of an injured Common Swift must be to restore its ability to survive in the wild. Common Swifts that are no longer able to survive in the wild must be euthanised.
Keeping swifts that are no longer able to survive in the wild in captivity must be rejected on principle for reasons of both animal welfare and nature conservation law:
Common Swifts spend their entire lives on the wing and in the company of their own kind. They cannot be kept in a manner appropriate to their species in human hands. Action must be taken, within the scope of the law, against "animal lovers" who refuse to see this and keep Common Swifts in captivity. The competent authorities must be informed why keeping Common Swifts in captivity has to be regarded as cruelty to animals.
Rearing Orphaned Young Swifts in a Species-Appropriate Way
Above all because of the ongoing destruction of their nesting places, but also because adult birds are lost (see: Avoiding Man-Made Hazards), young swifts that are not yet able to fly are ending up in human hands more and more often. Young swifts found on the ground always depend on human help, because the adults do not feed them outside the nest.
However, if that help is not geared to the special needs of these extremely demanding patients (feeding exclusively with insects, feeding technique, accommodation), the exact opposite is often achieved: despite great dedication on the part of the finders, incorrect care frequently leads to irreparable damage and to the needless death of the birds concerned.
With expert care and, where necessary, veterinary treatment, most of the birds taken in can be released into the wild without difficulty and thus saved for the natural population.
Returning Birds to the Wild
The Common Swift spends only three months of the year in its European breeding areas, raising here – unlike our native songbirds – its single brood of the year, with a maximum of three young. The loss of this one brood, which often happens for the reasons set out above, can have fatal long-term consequences for the survival of the population.
Returning hand-reared young swifts to the wild makes a considerable contribution to preserving the natural population and can therefore be regarded as biologically worthwhile. There is no need for a gradual release phase, since young Common Swifts are independent as soon as they leave the nest.
Distributing Information Material
Various groups of people who, as experience shows, repeatedly come into contact with Common Swifts should be approached at all times, made aware of the swift's problems, informed and encouraged to help.
This applies, for example, to house owners, roofing firms, architects and town planners, nature conservation authorities, bird protection organisations, animal shelters, veterinarians and rescue centres.
Public Relations Work
As is well known, injured or orphaned Common Swifts are found very often in summer. Such birds must be regarded as emergencies that need quick and expert help.
For this reason it is necessary to draw the public's attention to these problems through the media at the appropriate time. Again and again, misinformation leads to serious mistakes in handling these birds and causes grave harm; talks and publications are therefore needed to pass on experience and current knowledge and to make both professionals and laypeople aware of the subject (e.g. veterinarians, animal shelters, schools, bird protection groups, ...).
Ringing for Scientific Purposes
Since the Common Swift, with its life spent entirely in the air, largely escapes the conventional methods of bird observation, and since many aspects of its life (e.g. migration routes) are still barely known, every opportunity for ringing must be used. Thanks to official ringing programmes, important data can be obtained on migration routes and on where the birds stay during their nine months in Africa.
The ringing of hand-reared young birds is particularly important here, because swift breeding colonies are as a rule barely accessible. In this way, however, a large number of birds can be ringed every year.