Additional Resources

Websites and blogs

• Swifts in the Tower

  Oxford University Museum of Natural History

• Oxford Swift City Takes Flight

• The Swift Hotel

• Action for Swifts Blog

• Swift Tower — 3D model

• Experiments: how we learned that swifts do not land

Videos

• Spanish film about swifts

• Camera playlist — SEOBirdLife

• YouTube channel with swift videos

• Channels about swifts (in the comments)

  Russian video listing many channels

• Kings of the Sky

• Swifts: Children of the Air — Planet Earth

  Interesting facts about swifts

• Edward Mayer — Swift Conservation

  swift-conservation.org

• Shocking Moment: Swifts Eject Viable Egg

Science and press

• Swifts are born to eat and sleep in the air

  Lund University, March 2019

• Phenological changes in Common Swifts in Israel

  ResearchGate

• Growth of wing feathers

  commonswift.org

• Swifts and house martins join UK red list

  RSPB: 70 of 245 British bird species are under threat

• Homes for Nature commitment

• Cool birds: first evidence of energy-saving torpor in swifts

  Royal Society Publishing — Biology Letters

Estonian media

• The bird of the year is the swift

  Sakala / Postimees

PDF

• Swift Bricks — universal nest brick

  swift-conservation.org

• Action for Swifts

• Annual 10-Month Aerial Life Phase in the Common Swift

Leeds Swifts guidance

• Leeds Swifts — guidance for a found swift

What to do with a found swift

1. NEVER 'launch' a grounded Swift in the air
2. Bring the Swift indoors. House in a deep plastic container, or a ventilated shoe box, lined with a folded tea towel. Keep the swift in a quiet room.
3. NEVER feed it (see below)
4. REHYDRATE carefully by placing a damp cotton wool bud to the side of the Swift's beak. Take care to avoid the nostrils and don't try to open the beak as they break easily.
5. CALL US without delay on 07778 768719

Please do not feed the bird, no matter how much it begs. Grounded Swifts are generally dehydrated and emaciated and can die if they are fed in this condition. Under no circumstances must you feed meat, dried mealworms or seed. A Swift is an entirely insectivorous bird.

Please do not put a Swift in a cage. A Swift cannot perch and the bars on a cage will irreparably damage its long flight feathers.