Animal Diversity Web

Ge­o­graphic Range

Com­mon swifts, Apus apus, can be found in al­most any re­gion from west­ern Eu­rope to east­ern Asia and from north­ern Scan­danavia and north­ern Siberia to North Africa, Hi­malayas, and cen­tral China. Apus apus can be found through­out this range dur­ing the breed­ing sea­son and, fol­low­ing mi­gra­tion, spends the win­ter months in South­ern Africa, from Zaire and Tan­za­nia south to Zim­babwe and Mozam­bique. ("Com­mon swift (Apus apus)", 1985; "Swifts", 2003; Ban­ner­man, 1955)

• Biogeographic Regions
• palearctic
  • native
• ethiopian
  • native

Habi­tat

The ma­jor­ity of the breed­ing habi­tat of A. apus is lo­cated in tem­per­ate zones, where there are suit­able trees for nest­ing and suf­fi­cient open spaces in which to fly to gather food. The habi­tat of Apus apus dur­ing the months fol­low­ing mi­gra­tion into Africa, how­ever, is trop­i­cal. Com­mon swifts have been ob­served breed­ing from sea level to sev­eral thou­sand me­ters in el­e­va­tion. Apus apus prefers areas with trees, or build­ings with open spaces, and is able to use ver­ti­cal sur­faces such as rock walls and chim­neys for nest­ing due to a unique phys­i­cal adap­ta­tion pos­sessed by all swifts (Apo­di­dae). ("Com­mon swift (Apus apus)", 1985; "Swifts", 2003; Bruun, et al., 1992; Ter­res, 1980)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate
• tropical
• terrestrial

• Terrestrial Biomes
• forest

• Other Habitat Features
• urban
• suburban

Phys­i­cal De­scrip­tion

Com­mon swifts are 16 to 17 cm in length with a wingspan of 42 to 48 cm, de­pend­ing on the age of the in­di­vid­ual. Com­mon swifts are black-brown with the ex­cep­tion of a white to cream col­ored chin and throat (lo­cated di­rectly un­der­neath the beak). In ad­di­tion, the top­side of the flight feath­ers is paler brown-black in com­par­i­son to the rest of the body. Apus apus can also be dis­tin­guished by its mod­er­ately forked tail feath­ers, its nar­row, sickle-shaped wings, as well as its shrill, scream­ing call. Apus apus is fre­quently mis­taken for swal­lows. Apus apus is larger and has very a dif­fer­ent wing shape and flight pat­tern than do swal­lows. All species in the fam­ily Apo­di­dae pos­sess a unique mor­pho­log­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tic, a lat­eral “grasp­ing foot” in which toes one and two are op­posed by toes three and four. This al­lows com­mon swifts to oc­cupy areas such as walls of rock, chim­neys, and other ver­ti­cal sur­faces that would be dif­fi­cult for other types of birds to in­habit. Apus apus is a sex­u­ally monomor­phic species, mean­ing that the males and fe­males look alike. There has been no sea­sonal or ge­o­graph­i­cal vari­a­tion re­ported in the ap­pear­ance. How­ever, it is pos­si­ble to dis­tin­guish ju­ve­niles from adults in the slight dif­fer­ence in rich­ness and uni­for­mity of their col­oration, as it is com­mon for ju­ve­niles to be blacker in color, as well as to have a pale fore­head, white-fringed feath­ers, and a starker white patch under the beak. This dis­tinc­tion is best ob­served at close range. ("Com­mon swift (Apus apus)", 1985; "Swifts", 2003; Bruun, et al., 1992; John­son, 1992)

• Other Physical Features
• endothermic
• homoiothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• Sexual Dimorphism
• sexes alike

• Average mass

  44.9 g

  1.58 oz

  AnAge

• Average length

  16-17 cm

  in

• Range wingspan

  42 to 48 cm

  16.54 to 18.90 in

• Average basal metabolic rate

  0.4372 W

  AnAge

Re­pro­duc­tion

Apus apus usu­ally first breeds at two years of age, but the age of the first breed­ing can vary based upon the avail­abil­ity of nest­ing sites. The com­mon swift is a monog­a­mous species, they are faith­ful to nest­ing sites each year and to mates dur­ing a breed­ing sea­son. The male A. apus typ­i­cally chooses the nest site. Upon the ar­rival of the fe­male shortly there­after (usu­ally within a pe­riod of days), the nest­ing site is pro­tected by the pair. The nest is typ­i­cally com­posed of grass, leaves, hay, straw, and flower petals (among other things). The nest­ing site usu­ally in­cludes the nest it­self and the areas di­rectly sur­round­ing the nest. Courtship, some cop­u­la­tion, and the rear­ing of the chicks all occur at this site. Colonies of A. apus typ­i­cally in­clude 30 to 40 nest sites, re­flect­ing the gre­gar­i­ous na­ture of the com­mon swift mat­ing sys­tem. Apus apus is more likely to fight to de­fend a nest­ing site than it is to de­fend a mate. Males at­tract their fe­male part­ners through at­tain­ment of a good nest­ing site prior to their meet­ing. Upon their first meet­ing it is not un­usual for the ini­tial re­sponses of the po­ten­tial mates, both male and fe­male, to be hos­tile. If in­ter­ested and un­paired, the fe­male will enter the nest site ten­ta­tively, thereby invit­ing her po­ten­tial part­ner to stroke her chin with its bill. If this en­counter is suc­cess­ful, the fe­male may also in­vite her po­ten­tial part­ner to al­lo­preen. Al­lo­preen­ing is the process by which birds smooth or clean each oth­ers feath­ers with their beak or bill. This mu­tual ac­tion be­gins the pair-bond­ing process. ("Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003; Ban­ner­man, 1955)

• Mating System
• monogamous

Com­mon swifts typ­i­cally breed from late April to early May through mid-Sep­tem­ber when the young are fledged. One of the most unique char­ac­ter­is­tics of A. apus is its abil­ity to mate while in flight, al­though they also can mate while on the nest. Mat­ing oc­curs every few days fol­low­ing the ar­rival of suit­able weather, until a few days after the young have fledged. Fol­low­ing a suc­cess­ful cop­u­la­tion, any­where from one to four white eggs may be laid, how­ever a clutch size of two is most com­mon. Eggs must then be du­ti­fully in­cu­bated for 19 to 20 days while the em­bryos de­velop. Both par­ents par­tic­i­pate in the in­cu­ba­tion of the clutch. After the young hatch, it can take an ad­di­tional 27 to 45 days be­fore fledg­ing oc­curs, usu­ally more than 27 days. ("Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003; Ban­ner­man, 1955; John­son, 1992)

• Key Reproductive Features
• iteroparous
• seasonal breeding
• gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
• sexual
• oviparous

• Breeding interval

  Apus apus breeds once yearly.

• Breeding season

  Common swifts breed from late April to early May through mid-September

• Average eggs per season

  2

• Range time to hatching

  19 to 20 days

• Range fledging age

  27 to 45 days

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)

  2 years

• Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)

  2 years

Both par­ents take turns in­cu­bat­ing the clutch fol­low­ing fer­til­iza­tion and prior to hatch­ing. For the du­ra­tion of the first week fol­low­ing hatch­ing, the clutch is typ­i­cally brooded all day long. Dur­ing the sec­ond week, the young are brooded for ap­prox­i­mately half of the day. For the re­main­der of the time, until the clutch is fledged, they are rarely brooded dur­ing the day, but are al­most al­ways cov­ered at night. Both par­ents par­tic­i­pate equally in all as­pects of the rais­ing of the young. In the event that un­usu­ally bad weather per­sists or food sources be­come scarce dur­ing the time shortly after the hatch­ing of the young, the young pos­sess the abil­ity to be­come semi-tor­pid, a hi­ber­na­tion-like state, thereby re­duc­ing the en­ergy de­mands of their rapidly grow­ing bod­ies. This adap­ta­tion al­lows young A. apus to sur­vive with lit­tle food for 10 to 15 days. Dur­ing the time from hatch­ing until fledg­ing, the young are fed al­most ex­clu­sively in the nest. The young are fed food-balls con­sist­ing of in­sects gath­ered by the par­ents dur­ing flight and held to­gether with a sali­vary gland prod­uct, cre­at­ing the food bolus. While the young are smaller, they will share a food bolus among them. How­ever, once young are larger they be­come able to swal­low an en­tire food bolus on their own. ("Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003; John­son, 1992)

• Parental Investment
• altricial
• pre-fertilization
  • provisioning
  • protecting
    • female
• pre-hatching/birth
  • provisioning
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female
• pre-weaning/fledging
  • provisioning
    • male
    • female
  • protecting
    • male
    • female

Lifes­pan/Longevity

Apus apus is typ­i­cally long-lived. A com­mon swift banded in Swe­den was re-trapped at the age of 17. The an­nual sur­vival rate for the adults is 65-83%. (; "Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; Ter­res, 1980)

• Range lifespan
  Status: wild

  21 (high) years

• Average lifespan
  Status: captivity

  21.0 years

  Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

Be­hav­ior

Apus apus is a highly gre­gar­i­ous species. Com­mon swifts typ­i­cally nest, roost, mi­grate, and hunt for food in groups through­out the year. In ad­di­tion, they are unique in their abil­ity to stay aloft for ex­tended pe­ri­ods of time. It is not un­com­mon for these swifts to spend the en­tire day on the wing, only land­ing to feed young or to roost at night. It is es­ti­mated that com­mon swifts fly at least 560 miles per day dur­ing the nest­ing sea­son, il­lus­trat­ing their en­durance and strength, as well tremen­dous aer­ial abil­ity. They can also mate and for­age for food while in the air. Com­mon swifts typ­i­cally fly in lower air­space when the weather is poor (cold, windy, and/or wet), and will move to higher air­spaces when the weather is more fa­vor­able for ex­tended aer­ial ac­tiv­ity. (; "Swifts", 2003; Bruun, et al., 1992; John­son, 1992)

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• diurnal
• motile
• migratory
• social

Home Range

Apus apus has been known to con­sis­tently for­age more than 48-61 km from nest­ing or roost­ing sites.

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Per­cep­tion

Com­mu­ni­ca­tion be­tween Apus apus oc­curs al­most ex­clu­sively through the use of dif­fer­ent vo­cal­iza­tions, or calls, and by changes in body lan­guage. The types of calls used by A. apus are largely de­pen­dent upon its age. There are dif­fer­ent calls used by the adults than by the young. The most com­mon call dur­ing flight, a long, shrill ‘sreee’, is used in in­nu­mer­able con­texts by adults. Also among the vo­cal­iza­tions of the adults are those given dur­ing al­lo­preen­ing (nest-call), those fol­low­ing de­feat in a fight (pip­ing-call), as well as those pre­ced­ing cop­u­la­tion (pre-cop­u­la­tory call). The most com­mon call used by young is the food-call, used to beg for food from a par­ent upon its re­turn. (; "Swifts", 2003; Bruun, et al., 1992; Svens­son and Grant, 1999)

• Communication Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

Food Habits

Com­mon swifts are in­sec­tiv­o­rous, feed­ing solely on aer­ial in­sects and spi­ders that it gath­ers in its mouth as it glides through the air. The in­sects are gath­ered to­gether in­side the throat through the use of a prod­uct from the sali­vary glands, to form a food-ball or bolus. Apus apus is com­monly at­tracted to swarms of in­sects, as it aides in the ease of col­lect­ing suf­fi­cient food. It has been es­ti­mated that there are an av­er­age of 300 in­sects per bolus. These num­bers may vary based upon the abun­dance of prey. Among some of the most com­monly con­sumed in­sects are aphids (Hemiptera), wasps, bees, and ants (Hy­menoptera), bee­tles (Coleoptera), and flies (Diptera). ("Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003; John­son, 1992; Svens­son and Grant, 1999)

• Primary Diet
• carnivore
  • insectivore

• Animal Foods
• insects
• terrestrial non-insect arthropods

Pre­da­tion

Most no­table among the anti-preda­tor adap­ta­tions of A. apus is its aer­ial mas­tery, al­low­ing these birds to avoid most of their nat­ural preda­tors, in­clud­ing Eurasian hob­bies (Falco sub­bu­teo), spar­rowhawks (Ac­cip­iter nisus), and buz­zards (Buteo buteo), by tak­ing to the air. In ad­di­tion, the choice of nest­ing sites on ver­ti­cal sur­faces such as rock walls and chim­neys makes it dif­fi­cult for com­mon swifts to be preyed upon be­cause of the level of dif­fi­culty as­so­ci­ated with ac­cess­ing the nest area. The plain col­oration of Apus apus also is ad­van­ta­geous for preda­tor eva­sion as it makes them dif­fi­cult to see when they are not in the air. (; "Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003)

• Known Predators

  • Eurasian hobby (Falco subbuteo)
  • Eurasian sparrowhawks (Accipiter nisus)
  • common buzzards (Buteo buteo)

Ecosys­tem Roles

As a preda­tor, A. apus con­tributes to the con­trol of the in­sect pop­u­la­tion. (; Ban­ner­man, 1955; John­son, 1992)

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Pos­i­tive

Be­sides the fact that the com­mon swift fre­quently nests in close as­so­ci­a­tion with hu­mans, A. apus has no sig­nif­i­cant eco­nom­i­cal im­pact on hu­mans. Apus apus may offer a slight ben­e­fit to hu­mans by con­sum­ing pest in­sects such as mos­qui­tos. How­ever, it is un­likely that A. apus it­self would have a sig­nif­i­cant im­pact on these pest pop­u­la­tions. In some places com­mon swifts are en­cour­aged to nest in man­made struc­tures so that the young can be har­vested for food, how­ever, this prac­tice is not very com­mon. Also the nests of some swifts are used by in­dige­nous peo­ples of Asia as the key in­gre­di­ent in bird’s nest soup. (; "Com­mon Swift (Apus apus)", 2001; "Swifts", 2003)

• Positive Impacts
• food
• controls pest population

Eco­nomic Im­por­tance for Hu­mans: Neg­a­tive

Com­mon swifts have no no­table neg­a­tive im­pacts upon hu­mans, with the ex­cep­tion of the oc­ca­sional nui­sance of hav­ing them nest in the eaves and open spaces in the rooftops of many cities and vil­lages across Eu­rope. (; "Swifts", 2003; Bruun, et al., 1992; John­son, 1992; Svens­son and Grant, 1999)

• Negative Impacts
• household pest

Con­ser­va­tion Sta­tus

Apus apus is nei­ther threat­ened nor en­dan­gered. (; "Swifts", 2003)

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• IUCN Red List

  Least Concern
  More information

• US Migratory Bird Act

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Tanya Dewey (ed­i­tor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web.

Katie Thomp­son (au­thor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege, Ann Fraser (ed­i­tor, in­struc­tor), Kala­ma­zoo Col­lege.

Ref­er­ences

2001. Com­mon Swift (Apus apus). C El­ph­ick, J Dun­ning, D Sib­ley, eds. Na­tional Audubon So­ci­ety Sib­ley Guide to Bird Life and Be­hav­ior. New York: Al­fred a Knopf, Inc..

1985. Com­mon swift (Apus apus). Pp. 657-670 in D Snow, ed. The Birds of the West­ern Palearc­tic: Birds of Eu­rope, the Mid­dle East, and North Africa. New York: Ox­ford Uni­ver­sity Press..

2003. Swifts. Pp. 421-425, 429-430 in M Hutchins, ed. Grz­imek’s An­i­mal Life En­cy­clo­pe­dia, Sec­ond Edi­tion, Vol. 9. New York: The Gale Group, Inc..

Ban­ner­man, D. 1955. Order Apod­i­formes, Sub-Or­der Apodes, Fam­ily Apo­di­dae, Genus Apus. Pp. 1-12 in The Birds of the British Isles, Vol. IV, 1 Edi­tion. Ed­in­burgh: Oliver and Boyd Ltd..

Bruun, B., H. Delin, L. Svens­son. 1992. Birds of Britain and Eu­rope. Lon­don: Ham­lyn Pub­lish­ing Group Lim­ited.

John­son, L. 1992. Birds of Eu­rope with North Africa and the Mid­dle East. Lon­don: A & C Black.

Svens­son, L., P. Grant. 1999. Birds of Eu­rope. Prince­ton: Prince­ton Uni­ver­sity Press.

Ter­res, J. 1980. Swift Fam­ily. Pp. 868-870 in The Audubon So­ci­ety En­cy­clo­pe­dia of North Amer­i­can Birds. New York: Al­fred A Knopf, Inc..