The swift as a veterinary patient
The Common Swift Apus apus (Linnaeus 1758) is one of the frequent patients in veterinary small animal practices during the summer months as a found bird. This especially concerns urban settlements, which provide its preferred breeding sites.
Adult birds
In early May, when they return from their African winter quarters to their breeding areas in Central Europe, adult swifts repeatedly end up in human hands and are presented by animal lovers to veterinarians or ornithologists. This species is probably the most extremely adapted to airspace among all bird species and never voluntarily lands on the ground. Adult swifts found by humans have usually suffered accidents or are severely weakened. Human help is then always required. Often, when searching for nesting sites, they also fly into houses or attics. Once they have landed in a confined space, swifts cannot find their way out again on their own.
Young birds
With the beginning of the breeding season, fallen or orphaned young swifts are very often found, which are also lost without proper help, as the parents never feed outside the nest. Species-appropriate hand-rearing of such foundlings is of great relevance, because with incorrect feeding, severe damage to the skeleton and flight feathers is repeatedly observed, which can lead to inability to fly.
Problems
Dealing with swifts in human care is still a veterinary field that has hardly been explored and has often been left to dedicated laypeople. Species-appropriate and expert care under the premise of restoring the ability to survive in the wild is not always guaranteed. Many finders make selfless, personal efforts for a found swift, but usually fail due to the considerable complications that arise from the difficult handling of the demanding patient. The multitude of contradictory, often erroneous information that they obtain from various sources is equally counterproductive.
Search for help
Experience shows that animal lovers seeking advice first turn to a veterinarian, preferably their own, if they themselves own animals.
Neighboring bird lovers, the local animal welfare association, pet shops or nature conservation organizations, wildlife parks and zoos are also asked for advice. However, these contact points are often overwhelmed by the special requirements of such foundlings. Often, attempts are made "on ones own" to help the found bird, which often fails due to lack of knowledge.
Many volunteer wild bird care stations and "bird mothers" take care of affected animals with great dedication, but often without sufficient consideration of the lifestyle and biology of the swift. Again and again, an insistence on decades-old and dubious methods of feeding, care, and even therapy can be observed. Since swifts, unlike small songbirds, rarely react to mistreatment with rapid death, but consistently with late damage to the organ and skeletal system as well as the plumage, persuasion from the veterinary side is difficult. Moreover, even among experts, views differ considerably on how this highly specialized permanent flier should be treated.
Lack of control
Because released convalescents can only be officially banded in the rarest cases, the success or failure of manipulations performed on swifts generally escapes any control. The victims in all cases are the affected swifts, since with birds of such specialized lifestyle, even the smallest errors can lead to fatal consequences. In many cases, especially with improper treatment, misjudgment of injuries such as fractures and dislocations, or incorrect feeding, the inevitable end is preceded by pain and prolonged suffering.
Prognosis and therapy
In the swift - a bird that must meet the extreme demands of permanent flight - certain injuries, e.g., wing fractures, must be assessed differently than in other wild birds and especially differently than in pet birds. The therapeutic options are limited because the sole goal of veterinary treatment is complete restoration of the ability to survive in the wild and not simply saving life.
Aftercare
Beyond veterinary manipulations, proper, often elaborate aftercare is of crucial importance in dealing with a wild bird patient. Behavior and requirements differ quite considerably. The veterinarian must therefore not only weigh what is medically sensible, possible, and feasible under the given conditions for a free-living bird like the swift, but also bring it into line with the specific adaptive requirements. Collaboration with competent ornithologists is therefore often necessary. Ornithological advice is also important for estimating average life expectancy and survival probability with regard to the season (e.g., migratory birds!).
Very early on and as reliably as possible, the veterinarian must prognose for injuries and defects of various kinds whether a restitutio ad integrum can be expected, by which therapeutic measures it can be realized, and whether proper aftercare is available.
The experience gathered over the years at the Swift Clinic can serve to better assess this highly specialized patient according to its special requirements and to draw the necessary conclusions. This should help the veterinarian to make accurate diagnoses for swifts presented in their practice, make a realistic prognosis, and do justice to both finder and found animal. In addition to aspects of animal welfare, this can also contribute to species conservation. After all, the nature conservation associations declared the swift as Bird of the Year 2003, not least in view of the many sources of danger of life in the distinctly urban area.