Stop 12: Swift

Look up into the sky. Can you spot any birds?  Can you see fast flying swifts that look like black paper darts or speckled brown sparrowhawks chasing small birds?

Swifts streak across our skies at around 70 mph. With their high-pitched screams and hand break turns, it is hard to miss them. These migratory birds spend almost their entire lives in the sky and only land to breed under the roofs of buildings in cities like Belfast. A great place to spot them entering their nests at speeds of up to 40mph is at the Crescent Arts Centre near the Ulster Museum in Belfast.

While they are with us for the summer, they eat thousands of aerial invertebrates including many of the flies that bite us, like midges. Even better when they go back to Africa for the winter, they keep people alive by eating the mosquitoes that carry the deadly disease malaria! It is only fair that we help them too by not blocking the entrances to their nests or by building special nest boxes for them.

Activity:

What birds can you see today?  Make quick sketches. Label their main colours and make a note of the shape of their beaks, (predator hooked beak, short stubby seed eater beak or short fine insect eater beak), legs, tails and wings.