Aron Tanti

Colonial breeder which occupies rocky habitats in mountains and lowlands (incl. sea coasts), as well as buildings and other infrastructure in human settlements (Keller et al. 2020).

Its breeding range covers the Mediterranean basin (S Europe, N Africa, Levant, Asia Minor) eastwards to the Himalayas, W India, Sri Lanka, as well as E & S Africa (Chantler et al. 2020).

Eurasian-African long-distance migrant. European migratory populations overwinter in Africa.

Its population trend in Europe is stable or locally increasing (Keller et al. 2020). Evaluated as “Least Concern” (BirdLife International 2021).

Season of assessment

B

Population trendUnknown
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		647000-1460000,960000
Red List categoryLC
Franks, S., Fiedler, W., Arizaga, J., Jiguet, F., Nikolov, B., van der Jeugd, Ambrosini, R, Aizpurua, O., Bairlein, F., Clark, J., Fattorini, N, Hammond, M., Higgins, D, Levering, H., Skellorn, W., Spina, F, Thorup, K. Walker, J., Woodward, I. and Baillie, S.R. (1) (2022) Online Atlas of the movements of European bird populations. https://migrationatlas.org EURING/CMS (1) Principal investigator
Map

Overall Connectivity for Alpine Swift

Due to scarcity of long-distance recoveries, connectivity in relation to African winter grounds cannot be outlined based on ringing recoveries only. However, tracking studies using geolocation revealed comparatively weak spatial connectivity – the wintering sites are located in a belt just S of the Sahel zone: from W Africa (birds originating from C & SW Europe) to C & NE Africa (breeders from SE Europe & Asia Minor) (Meier et al. 2020). Birds breeding in C Europe take SW routes towards Gibraltar and then continue S to W Africa. Stopover sites have been identified in the Mediterranean region and the Sahel zone (Liechti et al. 2013). Data suggest possible migration divide in C Europe E from Switzerland, although some birds from the Swiss population have been encountered on the Balkans and E Africa.

Recoveries by Condition for Alpine Swift

Most encounters are obtained during the breeding season – primarily in Jun-Jul (53%). C European region holds exclusively almost all of them (ca. 99%). In total, ca. 90% of all encounters are based on alive birds – this share stayed comparatively high over the years (from 77% pre-1960, ca. 60% for the period 1961-1990 and ca. 95% after 1991). The number of encounters coming from dead birds before 1960 was 22%, then nearly doubled during the 1961-1990 period (40%) and currently it holds just 4% from the sample after 1991. Considerable amount of encounters (18%) was received in 1961-1990 due to cold weather.

The bulk of encounters are obtained after 2000.

Live recoveries of ringed birds are concentrated in Switzerland, where the species is most heavily studied.

Annual Movements for Alpine Swift

Post-breeding dispersion of C European breeding population (Switzerland) starts in Aug, when birds are encountered in the neighbouring countries SW and S from the breeding sites (S France, N Italy). Autumn migration is evident mostly in Sep-Oct (lasting until Nov) at lower latitudes in SW Europe & NW Africa. Encounters from the wintering grounds are very limited – from Jan (Ghana) and Kenya. During spring migration birds are encountered as early as Feb but mostly Mar-Apr (until May) on their way back at similar locations in Maghreb and the Iberian and Apennine Peninsulas. Tracked Swiss breeders undertake a migratory journey of ca. 3500 km to W Africa in about two weeks (Liechti et al. 2013).

There are very few long-distance ring recoveries from the African winter quarters.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Alpine Swift

Migratory movements of the breeding population in C Europe start as early as late summer, being more pronounced in mid- to late autumn. At this time lots of encounters exist from SW Europe, but also from Italy and N Morocco and Algeria. Limited data from the wintering sites suggest mid-winter encounter in W Africa. Early- to mid-spring encounters are available from the same regions in NW Africa, Spain, France and Italy; migration continues until late spring. Post-breeding dispersal of the Swiss population results in numerous encounters in almost all neighbouring countries, incl. some breeding cases in following years.

Most encounters involve short distances covered only – less than 100km from the ringing site.

Boris Nikolov

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
2020 . European Breeding Bird Atlas 2: Distribution, Abundance and Change. European Bird Census Council & Lynx Edicions, BarcelonaEditor(s): Keller, V., S. Herrando, P. Voříšek, et al.
BirdLife International 2021 . Species factsheet: Tachymarptis melba. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 20/07/2021
Chantler, P., E. de Juana, G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman 2020 . Alpine Swift (Apus melba), version 1.0. In Birds of the World Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.alpswi1.01) Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA
Liechti, F., Witvliet, W., Weber, R. and Bächler, E. 2013 . First evidence of a 200-day non-stop flight in a bird. Nat. Commun. 4
Meier, C. M., Karaardıç, H., Aymí, R., Peev, S. G., Witvliet, W., Liechti, F. 2020 . Population-specific adjustment of the annual cycle in a super-swift trans-Saharan migrant. J. Avian Biol. 72

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