Aron Tanti

Long distance migrant and aerial forager feeding on small-sized flying arthropods. Breeding distribution covers Europe, NW Africa and Asia as far east as Mongolia and N China. Absent from densely forested and Arctic regions in N Scandinavia and N Russia. Winters in C and SE African tropics. Well known for being airborne throughout the year, only touching ground to breed. Typically breeds in cavities of man-made structures, but breeding in tree cavities and rock crevices is known from remote areas. European breeding population 19,100,000-32,500,000. Stable trend.

Season of assessment

B

Population trendDecreasing
Population size
(min-max, best estimate)		32200000-56700000,41700000
Red List categoryNT
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 Common Swift

Wintering range covers an area with Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania in N and Zimbabwe and Mozambique in S. Chain migrant with southern populations wintering south of northern populations (Åkesson et al 2020). Swifts breeding in the British Isles, the Low Countries and C Europe connect to Iberia, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia in the Mediterranean, to Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa in C Africa and to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South-Africa in SE Africa (Klaassen et al 2014). Birds from the Low Countries, C Europe and Iberia also connect to Central African Republic. Swifts breeding in C Europe also connect to Italy, the Balkans and Greece during spring and autumn migration. Birds from Fennoscandia and the Baltics mainly connect to Italy, the Balkans and Greece and, to a lesser extent, Iberia and the Caucasus.

Recoveries by Condition for Common Swift

Two-thirds of recoveries are dead birds, evenly spread over the entire range. Only a small fraction of these were shot, all in S Europe and Africa. Almost 20% of recoveries refer to alive birds of which most are recovered by certified ringers, especially in the UK, C Europe and Finland. The remainder of recoveries refers to birds found dead or wounded. Less than 1% of recoveries refer to birds being shot. The fraction of alive recoveries has increased over the past decades.

Annual Movements for Common Swift

Birds depart from the African wintering grounds in March-April to arrive at the European breeding grounds late April-May. Recoveries from important stopovers along the migratory route within Africa are missing. Swifts from northern populations arrive later at the breeding grounds than southern populations. The breeding grounds are departed in August, and by this time some birds are already encountered at the C African wintering grounds. During winter, some populations shift to more south-eastern wintering grounds.

Connectivity by Month by Region for Common Swift

Encounters during April-June and August-September connect Swift populations from the British Isles, the Low Countries, C Europe and Fennoscandia to Iberia and NW Africa, suggesting that this western route is used during both autumn and spring migration. Overall, birds are encountered in C Africa during October-November while birds are encountered in SE Africa during December-February. Tracking of Swifts has confirmed that NW European but not Fennoscandian birds shift from C Africa to SE Africa in the course of the wintering period (Klaassen et al. 2014). Although there are no recoveries from this area, tracking studies revealed the importance of Liberia as a stopover before crossing the Sahara during spring migration in April, at least for the NW European and Fennoscandian populations (Åkesson et al. 2012).

Henk van der Jeugd

References

Statistics Map
N records N individuals N recoveries
Mapped data*
Total available data
*Mapped data include only distant (>= 50 km) recoveries
References Map
Åkesson, S., Atkinson, P. W., Bermejo, A., de la Puente, J., Ferri, M., Hewson, C.M., Holmgren, J., Kaiser, E., Kearsley, L., Klaassen, R.H.G., Kolunen, H., Matsson, G., Minelli, F., Norevik, G., Pietiäinen, H., Sing, N.J., Spina, F., Viktora, L., et al.2020 . Evolution of chain migration in an aerial insectivorous bird, the common swift Apus apus. Evolution 74 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14093) : 2377–2391
Åkesson, S., Klaassen, R., Holmgren, J., Fox, J. W., Hedenström, A.2012 . Migration routes and strategies in a highly aerial migrant, the common swift Apus apus, revealed by light-level geolocators. PloS One article no.: 41195 Link to Article (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041195)
Klaassen, R., Klaassen, H., Berghuis, A., Berghuis, M., Schreven, K., Horst, Y.2014 . Trekroutes en overwinteringsgebieden van Nederlandse Gierzwaluwen ontrafeld met geolocators. Limosa 87: 173–181

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