The patient volume of the Swift Clinic (formerly: "Swift Station") rose steadily in the early years and settled between 500 and 700 swifts per season from 2003 to 2009. In 2010, the 700 mark was exceeded for the first time. Since then, the clinic has also been occupied all year round – there is no longer a "season end" or "winter break". In 2012 and 2013, the 800 mark was clearly exceeded. Since then, the numbers have settled between 700 and 800 patients annually. This is due to the fact that many severely damaged patients – especially those with feather damage – are treated elaborately at the Swift Clinic for months. When the clinic is at capacity and "no bed is free", no new swifts can be admitted.
The fluctuations from 2003 are partly due to environmental factors that affect the (breeding) behaviour of swifts. In particularly hot years, for example, more young birds jump out of their nest to escape heat death. Accordingly, more young birds in need of help are found and brought to the clinic. The same applies to cold and wet years, where severely emaciated animals are found in these years. In both cases – extreme heat and persistent rain – insect populations also decline. Adult and juvenile swifts become emaciated. Since 2017, it has become common knowledge that there are fewer and fewer insects even in good weather conditions. This is due to the use of poisons in agriculture and allotments as well as largely monocultural agriculture, which also seals field paths and does not tolerate field margins. Swifts and other birds also suffer from this.
In addition, the clinic has had to impose temporary admission stops since 2007 because capacity limits were simply exceeded. The following graphs show the daily utilisation of the Swift Clinic in the years 2018-2021. Although the rearing of uninjured nestlings was partly relocated to competent, selected care facilities to cushion peak loads, there was again a peak utilisation of over 250 swifts in 2012. The figures for 2013 reflect that the summer of 2013 was cold and wet. Therefore, swifts often could not start directly after fledging. At the same time, new swifts were constantly being admitted. In 2014, peak values of over 240 inpatients were also reached. Despite the generous premises, these numbers still require more self-sacrifice than simple commitment from the clinic staff – also because the "diversion" of uncomplicated young birds to care facilities means the remaining patients are more complicated cases. Thus, adult birds are always admitted if possible, because their treatment usually requires special knowledge and skills. Young swifts with feather damage, as it can appear after the birds have fledged, must stay in the care facilities until the clinic's capacities are sufficient to admit them. Feather-damaged swifts from private individuals are, if possible, placed in selected care facilities or admitted directly to the clinic.
The tables also show that in recent years, more and more patients are starting a new season. This is due to the fact that the swift moult of juvenile patients only takes place in the second year of life and adult swifts only complete the moult in April/May; but there are also swifts that have to wait a very long time for a takeover. Such a long stay in human care can only be justified by the fact that swifts can basically live long and do not lose their abilities to survive in the wild.
| Year | Adults released | Adults deceased | Adults in care | Juveniles released | Juveniles deceased | Juveniles in care | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 14 | ||
| 1995 | 2 | 2 | 33 | 17 | 54 | ||
| 1996 | 9 | 5 | 38 | 5 | 57 | ||
| 1997 | 3 | 8 | 71 | 19 | 101 | ||
| 1998 | 11 | 13 | 117 | 22 | 163 | ||
| 1999 | 27 | 34 | 146 | 27 | 234 | ||
| 2000 | 39 | 31 | 251 | 31 | 352 | ||
| 2001 | 41 | 33 | 244 | 44 | 362 | ||
| 2002 | 56 | 42 | 187 | 47 | 332 | ||
| 2003 | 64 | 69 | 317 | 72 | 522 | ||
| 2004 | 69 | 63 | 413 | 71 | 616 | ||
| 2005 | 66 | 64 | 308 | 64 | 502 | ||
| 2006 | 65 | 57 | 439 | 81 | 642 | ||
| 2007 | 65 | 64 | 360 | 87 | 576 | ||
| 2008 | 58 | 64 | 321 | 80 | 523 | ||
| 2009 | 88 | 79 | 420 | 110 | 697 | ||
| 2010 | 81 | 75 | 427 | 138 | 721 | ||
| 2011 | 75 | 107 | 418 | 140 | 741 | ||
| 2012 | 114 | 128 | 437 | 168 | 847 | ||
| 2013 | 129 | 110 | 497 | 120 | 3 | 859 | |
| 2014 | 91 | 109 | 10 | 341 | 107 | 34 | 692 |
| 2015 | 83 | 70 | 14 | 350 | 136 | 47 | 700 |
| 2016 | 102 | 90 | 16 | 371 | 97 | 20 | 696 |
| 2017 | 105 | 101 | 23 | 324 | 140 | 85 | 778 |
| 2018 | 123 | 134 | 6 | 314 | 155 | 40 | 772 |
| 2019 | 103 | 113 | 11 | 244 | 143 | 92 | 706 |
| 2020 | 148 | 145 | 9 | 275 | 171 | 69 | 817 |
| 2021 | 139 | 136 | 18 | 238 | 114 | 47 | 692 |
The admitted birds come from all over Germany and European countries, with a focus on the Rhine-Main region. In 2021, for example, Common Swifts, Alpine Swifts, and Pallid Swifts came from Poland, Austria, Romania, Belgium, Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland.
Nearly one-third of all patients are referred by other institutions, mainly foster care stations, animal shelters, and veterinarians/veterinary clinics. In most cases, however, finders contacted the Swift Clinic directly.
The length of stay for our swift patients in 2021 averaged 31.4 days (arithmetic mean) for successfully released birds, with a median of 23 days. The significant differences between the arithmetic mean and median are caused by long-term patients, who skew the arithmetic mean upward. The figure below shows the overall values for all swifts. A more detailed distinction between adults and juveniles reveals that most released adult swifts were able to leave the clinic after a short time (14 days), while juvenile swifts were cared for an average of 26 days until release. These numbers naturally reflect the rearing process. It is also notable that the decision for euthanasia in adult swifts is made after a median of just 2 days in the clinic, while for juvenile swifts it is 14 days. The reason is that adult swifts are often admitted with the most severe injuries and therefore frequently have no chance of rescue. For juvenile swifts, however, the reasons are different - for example, delayed consequences of improper feeding by the finder. Injuries play a lesser role here, though some individual juvenile patients show during their first flight attempts in the training room that they sustained injuries during their fall from the nest that can only now be detected. The high discrepancy between the arithmetic mean and median, however, illustrates that the decision for euthanasia is carefully considered and thoughtfully made in each individual case. Some patients with uncertain prognoses are observed and treated over longer periods, which skews the arithmetic mean upward.