Animal
Common swift
The common swift is a dark bird with long, curved wings. It flies almost all the time. It eats, drinks and even sleeps in the air!
The common swift is a sooty-brown bird with long, curved wings, a forked tail and a pale throat. It spends almost its whole life in the air, catching flying insects, and it rarely touches the ground. Swifts breed across Europe and Asia, often in holes in buildings, and fly to Africa for the winter, a round trip of thousands of kilometers.
Apus apus is a highly aerial, long-distance migrant that breeds from Europe and North Africa across Asia, mostly in buildings, and winters in Africa. BirdLife International assessed it as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 9 June 2025, published 2025), with a very preliminary estimate of 80 to 142 million mature individuals and a decreasing trend; in the United Kingdom it has declined steeply.
Photo: Alexis Lours, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Meet the swift
The swift is a small, dark bird.
It has long wings shaped like a curved blade and a tail with a notch in it.
The common swift is a plain, sooty-brown bird with a pale patch on its throat. Against the sky it looks black. Its long wings curve back like a blade, and its tail is forked.
A swift is only about 16 to 17 centimeters long, but its wings stretch about 42 to 48 centimeters from tip to tip. It weighs just 36 to 50 grams.
Apus apus belongs to the swift family, Apodidae. The RSPB gives a length of 16 to 17 centimeters, a wingspan of 42 to 48 centimeters and a weight of 36 to 50 grams, describing a plain sooty-brown bird with a pale throat that looks black against the sky, with curved wings and a forked tail. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) lists an average weight of 39.5 grams and describes the dark, scythe-winged silhouette.
Its wingspan is about two and a half to three times its body length.
Quick facts
- Group
- Bird
- Length
- 0.16 to 0.17 m
- Wingspan
- 0.42 to 0.48 m
- Weight
- 0.04 to 0.05 kg
Sky above towns and cliffs
Swifts fly over towns, fields and lakes.
In summer they nest in holes in buildings.
Swifts can be seen high in the sky over almost any kind of land, from towns and farms to wetlands, steppe and desert. They breed across Europe, North Africa and much of Asia.
Most swifts nest in buildings, in holes under roofs and eaves. In wilder places they also nest in tree holes and rock cracks. In winter they fly to Africa, mostly to the area from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania south to Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
The IUCN lists breeding range across Europe and Asia, resident listings in many African and some European and Middle Eastern countries, and passage across Arabia, up to 3,300 meters, in habitats from arid steppe and desert to temperate, Mediterranean and boreal zones. It says the species nests mainly in buildings, using tree hollows and rock crevices in remote parts of the range, and winters mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania south to Zimbabwe and Mozambique (Chantler and Boesman 2013).
The BTO calls the swift the long-distance migrant most associated with people because it nests among houses; the RSPB says nesting swifts zoom around buildings at roof level.
Continents
Its habitat
Where can you find this animal?
- Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
- Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Lives here naturally · Countries and seas named by a scientific source
Countries where the IUCN lists common swifts as breeding birds (Europe, North Africa and much of Asia) or as resident, which includes much of Africa, where swifts spend the winter. Swifts live in only parts of many countries shown. Andorra, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Malta, the Faroe Islands and the Maldives are also listed but have no separate map shape. Birds pass through the Arabian Peninsula, J
Places: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herz. and 96 more places.
Source: iucn-red-list · checked October 2026
Sightings recorded · Records of wild sightings (GBIF)
Counts of GBIF records of wild observations (human and machine) and preserved specimens. Records include introduced populations, vagrants, escaped or released animals and misidentifications, so a country with records is not necessarily part of the native range.
Wild sightings have been recorded in Sweden, UK, Spain, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway and 122 more places.
Source: gbif · checked October 2026
Range maps show where scientists say an animal lives, often country by country. An animal may live in only part of a country shown, and sightings records can include animals that wandered far from home.
Catching insects in the air
Swifts catch tiny insects while they fly.
They catch tiny spiders floating in the air, too.
Swifts feed only in the air. They fly high over all kinds of land, catching flying insects and tiny spiders that drift on the wind. They catch food for their chicks in the same way.
Because they depend on insects in the air, swifts are affected when there are fewer insects. The BTO lists a decline in insect food as one likely reason for falling swift numbers in Britain.
The IUCN gives insects and spiders as the diet; the RSPB specifies flying insects and airborne spiders, gathered high above most habitats both for the adults and for the chicks.
The BTO names a decline in insect food, together with poor summer weather and the continued loss of nest sites, as likely reasons for the large drop in British and Irish swift populations recorded by the Breeding Bird Survey.
Did you know?
One swift lived almost 18 years.
The oldest ringed swift recorded by the BTO lived almost 18 years.
Maximum age from a ringed bird: 17 years, 11 months, 5 days (BTO).
Built for the air
Swifts almost never land on the ground.
They eat, bathe and sleep while flying!
The RSPB says swifts sleep, eat, bathe and even mate while flying, and rarely touch the ground. Their wings are long and curved, and stretch far wider than their bodies are long.
The RSPB also calls swifts the fastest birds in level flight, with a top speed of about 69 miles per hour, or about 111 kilometers per hour.
The RSPB describes swifts sleeping, eating, bathing and mating on the wing and rarely touching the ground, and calls them the fastest birds in level flight, with a top speed of 69 mph (about 111 km/h).
The IUCN text notes that swifts build their nest cups from small pieces of plant material and feathers, glued together with saliva. The BTO describes the chicks as altricial and naked when they hatch.
A nest under the roof
Swifts make a small nest in a hole under a roof.
They lay two or three eggs. The chicks stay in the nest for a long time.
Swifts build a small cup of plant bits and feathers, stuck together with their saliva, inside a hole in a building, tree or rock. The female lays two or three eggs, which hatch after 18 to 24 days.
The chicks hatch bare and helpless and stay in the nest a long time: 37 to 56 days. Swifts usually start breeding at about four years old and can live a long time: one ringed swift lived almost 18 years.
The IUCN text gives a breeding season from March to June and a nest cup of vegetable matter and feathers agglutinated with saliva, mainly in buildings. The BTO gives a typical clutch of 2 to 3 eggs (each about 3.5 grams), incubation of 18 to 24 days, altricial, naked chicks fledging at 37 to 56 days, a typical life expectancy of 9 years for a bird reaching breeding age, breeding typically at 4 years, and a longest-lived ringed bird of 17 years, 11 months.
The IUCN gives a generation length of 7.85 years.
Screaming parties and long journeys
Swifts make a loud, high scream.
They fly all the way to Africa and back every year.
In summer, groups of swifts race around the rooftops making loud, high-pitched screams. You often hear them before you see them. At the start of this page you can play a recording of swifts calling.
Swifts are only summer visitors in northern Europe. In Britain they arrive from late April, mostly in May, raise their chicks and head back to Africa from early August. The RSPB says a swift flies about 22,000 kilometers every year.
The RSPB describes an unmistakable high-pitched scream, often heard before the birds are seen, and swifts zooming around buildings at roof level; the BTO mentions screaming calls with wheeling flocks. The recording on this page (Wikimedia Commons, 'Mauersegler', by Jugrü, CC BY-SA 3.0) is described only as calls of common swifts.
The RSPB says swifts arrive in the UK from late April, mostly in May, leave from early August, stop to refuel in places such as Portugal and France, and fly around 22,000 kilometers a year; the BTO describes their return to Britain and Ireland in early May.
Did you know?
Swifts can sleep while they fly.
The RSPB says swifts sleep, eat, bathe and even mate in the air.
Sleeping, feeding, bathing and mating on the wing; rarely on the ground (RSPB).
Least concern, but losing their homes
There are many swifts in the world.
But they need holes in buildings to nest. Special swift boxes can help.
Worldwide, the common swift is listed as least concern, but its numbers are going down. In Britain the fall has been steep: for every ten swifts in 1995, there were only about three by 2022.
One big problem is that old holes under roofs get blocked when buildings are repaired or knocked down. The IUCN suggests keeping these holes, doing roof work outside the nesting season, and adding nest boxes or special nest bricks to buildings.
BirdLife International assessed Apus apus as Least Concern for the IUCN Red List (assessed 9 June 2025, published 2025). Europe's 32.2 to 56.7 million mature individuals (BirdLife International 2021), about 40% of the range, give a very preliminary global estimate of 80 to 142 million; the trend is decreasing but not fast enough to approach Vulnerable. The IUCN names loss of nest sites through renovation, re-roofing and demolition (Mayer 2008), notes trade at low prevalence (two of seven datasets; Donald et al. 2024), and proposes keeping nest holes and eaves, avoiding work in the breeding season and adding nest boxes or bricks (RSPB 2012).
The BTO gives about 59,000 UK pairs (2016) and a 70% decrease from 1995 to 2024; the RSPB says the swift is on the UK's Red List.
IUCN Red List
How is the common swift doing in the wild?
- Least Concern (this animal)
- Near Threatened
- Vulnerable
- Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- Extinct in the Wild
- Extinct
Least Concern
Not at risk of disappearing from the wild right now.
Amazing facts
-
Swifts can sleep while they fly.
The RSPB says swifts sleep, eat, bathe and even mate in the air.
Sleeping, feeding, bathing and mating on the wing; rarely on the ground (RSPB).
-
Swifts fly very, very far every year.
A swift flies about 22,000 kilometers every year.
Around 22,000 kilometers flown annually (RSPB).
-
One swift lived almost 18 years.
The oldest ringed swift recorded by the BTO lived almost 18 years.
Maximum age from a ringed bird: 17 years, 11 months, 5 days (BTO).
-
Swifts glue their nests with spit.
A swift's nest is made of plant bits and feathers stuck together with saliva.
Nest cups of vegetable matter and feathers agglutinated with saliva (IUCN).
Words to know
- aerial
- living or happening in the air
- migrate
- to move from one place to another as the seasons change
- eaves
- the edges of a roof that stick out over the walls
- forked
- split into two points
- clutch
- a group of eggs laid at one time
Discovery challenge
-
Where does a swift spend most of its life?
Where does a common swift spend almost all of its time?
Which environment does the common swift rarely leave?
- In the air
- In the water
- Underground
Show the answer
In the air
In the air!
It eats, bathes and even sleeps while flying, and rarely touches the ground.
The air: feeding, sleeping and mating on the wing (RSPB).
-
Where do many swifts nest?
Where do most common swifts make their nests?
What is the swift's main nest site?
- In holes in buildings
- On the open ground
- On floating reeds
Show the answer
In holes in buildings
In buildings!
Mostly in holes under roofs and eaves; in wild places, in trees or rocks.
Mainly buildings; tree hollows and rock crevices in remote areas (IUCN).
-
Where do swifts go in winter?
Where do common swifts spend the winter?
Where do common swifts mainly winter?
- Africa
- The Arctic
- South America
Show the answer
Africa
Africa!
In Africa, mostly from the Congo and Tanzania south to Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Mainly from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania south to Zimbabwe and Mozambique (IUCN).
-
What sound do swifts make?
What call do swifts make as they race over rooftops?
How does the RSPB describe the swift's call?
- A high-pitched scream
- A deep hoot
- A soft coo
Show the answer
A high-pitched scream
A scream!
A loud, high-pitched scream that you often hear before you see them.
An unmistakable high-pitched scream (RSPB).
Places where you might see it
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Describe how a swift's body suits a life in the air.
- Trace the swift's migration between Europe and Africa.
- Explain why swifts depend on holes in buildings.
- Name ways people can help swifts nest.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- What would be hard about living almost your whole life in the air?
- Why might repairing old roofs affect swifts?
- How could a town make room for swifts in new buildings?
Try at home or in class
- Swift watch: on a summer evening, with a grown-up, look and listen for screaming swifts over rooftops and count how many fly past in five minutes.
- Wing shapes: cut out paper wings in a long, curved swift shape and a short, rounded shape, and compare how they glide when gently thrown.
Key vocabulary: aerial, migrate, eaves, forked, clutch
Where these facts come from
- GBIF Backbone Taxonomy and GBIF Occurrence Search , Global Biodiversity Information Facility (CC0 1.0 (backbone); occurrence counts are facts derived from records under CC0, CC BY and CC BY-NC)
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN terms of use (no redistribution of Red List data or range maps))
- Apus apus (BirdLife International, assessed 9 June 2025, published 2025) , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Apus apus: justification, population, habitat, threats and conservation text , IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
- Apus apus: IUCN Red List global assessment record (BirdLife International 2025), IUCN checklist on GBIF , GBIF
- Swift , RSPB
- Swift (BirdFacts) , British Trust for Ornithology
- File:Common Swift 2025 07 18 02 (cropped).jpg (18 July 2025, Alexis Lours) , Wikimedia Commons
- File:Mauersegler.ogg (Jugrü) , Wikimedia Commons
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file: Public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA only (credited on each page))
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated November 1, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.