Swift Birds Eat Insects on the Fly

[sidneyfalco]

Swift Birds, who spend most of their lives in the air, eat insects pretty high up. What are the insects doing up there? Are they just beintg blown around by the wind?

[Count-A-Strong]

So why do they swoop down so low?

[wildwood]

Their flying hight varies. One swift may eat as many as 10,000 insects in one day when it has chicks. Some of the insects 'balls' that they feed to the young may contain over 250 species of insects.

The insects fly higher when they want to move to new grounds and so catching wind flows. The swifts have taken advantage of this and evolved to virtually live on the wing. The swallows also take flying insects but mostly fly low over meadows and still water where insects are plentiful.

[carlton23]

wildwood, is it a fact that insects stick on swifts wings to be eaten as and when?

[Graham-W]

The thing that really amazes me about swifts is that when the young leave Britain to fly to Africa the don't land again for two years. The fly to Africa, back to England, back to Africa and back to England again before they land for breeding.
Awesome.

[wildwood]

I would think not carlton23. The occasional sticky aphid may cling but that would be by accident. Swifts, martins and swallows have an amazingly large gape and normally eat a few insect all the time except when there are young to feed.

The really amazing thing to me is that they can sleep (take small naps) while flying.

[coccinelle]

Just thought I'd mention that when the swifts are flying high it's a sign for good weather but when they're flying low there's a storm brewing. This is due to the height the insects are flying. (high pressure and low pressure)