Common Swifts are medium-sized swifts.
Their plumage is
all dark-grey, except a light-grey throat patch and mid-grey
flight feathers. The entire body plumage has thin light-grey
edges, leading to a finely scalloped appearance when seen
close-up. Swifts, as the name suggests, are fast fliers;
accordingly, their wings have the shape of a backward-bent sickle,
which - together with the relatively short, prominently forked
tail - distinguishes them from swallows. In-flight the very short
legs are invisible.
Twitcher's tip
Common Swifts are difficult to distinguish from Pallid Swifts. They are overall
less brownish and more slender, with slightly darker-grey
flight feathers and a smaller throat patch.
The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and
specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found,
based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to
ebird.org
.
The global distribution of the Common Swift is available
HERE
.
Common Swifts are a strongly migratory species; except
when breeding they are continuously on the wing.
Their breeding grounds are along the north-western African
coastal fringe, in all of Europe (except small parts of
the northern coastline of Scandinavia), Asia Minor and
mid- to high-latitude Asia (to about 70 degrees geographical
latitude), reaching the eastern Russian coastline. In the
South-east their breeding range extends through Syria,
Iraq, Iran onwards into the southern half of Pakistan
and the northern half of India, and into the Himalayas.
They winter in/above all of southern Africa, to the South
of the equator, except the very tip near the Cape of Good
Hope.
During their migration Common Swifts can also be found
(in the air above) anywhere in Arabia and the northern
half of Africa.
During the breeding season Common Swifts will be found near
suitable nest sites (rockfaces, ruins, houses, bridges, viaducts),
in the vicinity of good hunting grounds (e.g. near water).
Outside the breeding season their movements will be dominated
by the availability of flying insects, which are often abundant
in wetlands, especially stagnant water or in marshy river deltas.
Sightings
Click here for sighting information
We have not spotted Common Swifts in Oman yet, but have encountered
them in Europe.
Photos
No photos of Common Swifts taken in Oman are available yet, but there
are photos taken in
Europe.
Food, Diet
Like other swifts, Common Swifts are insect hunters. They catch
and devour their prey in-flight.
More Common Swift sound recordings are available at
xeno-canto.org
.
These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our
contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species
please refer to a field guide.
Description
Classification
Distribution
Sightings
Photos
Breeding
Nest
Eggs
Behaviour
Food
Call/s
Click here for a physical description
are welcome.
.