BirdWeather - a living library of bird vocalizations
  • Shop
  • News
  • About
    • About BirdWeather
    • Station Types
    • Species List
    • PUC Quick Start Guide
  • Explore
    • BirdWeather News
    • Big BirdWeather Day
    • Top Stations
    • Top Species
    • Data Explorer
Account
  • Log in
  • Create Account
  • Log in
  • Create Account
Photo of Common Swift (Apus apus)

Common Swift

Apus apus

The common swift (Apus apus) is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. The swifts' nearest relatives are the New World hummingbirds and the Southeast Asian treeswifts.

Its scientific name Apus is Latin for a swift, thought by the ancients to be a type of swallow with no feet (from Ancient Greek α, a, "without", and πούς, pous, "foot").Swifts have very short legs which they use primarily for clinging to vertical surfaces (hence the German name Mauersegler, literally meaning "wall-glider"). They never settle voluntarily on the ground, where they would be vulnerable to accidents and predation, and non-breeding individuals may spend up to ten months in continuous flight.

Read more on Wikipedia

Photo credit: pau.artigas

BirdWeather

BirdWeather is powered by BirdNET