The Common Swift is not a swallow and feels at home in the urban area
Bird species can't build nests in neat new houses Groesbeek - The neat new houses that replace old buildings are a big threat for the Common Swift. There are no crevices and projections that the animal
needs. The bird species doesn't build it's own nest but uses existing holes and crevices. It readily returns to the old nest which means the demolition
or renovation of old houses or even entire districts is a great threat.
The Common Swift resembles a swallow but is in fact a member of a different family: the apodidae. The real swallows, such as the Barn Swallow, the
House Martin and the Sand Martin, feel at home in rural areas. The Common Swift is a real townsman and outside the breeding season sometimes spends months
non-stop in the air. Hunting, feeding and drinking (raindrops) is all done flying. It is related to the hummingbird.
The Common Swift is a very useful animal to humans as it cathes a lot of insects. A single Swift eats up to 20.000 aphids, flying ants, hoverflies and
spiders a day. It's a beautiful sight to see it perform it's caprioles high up in the sky during the hunt in the evening. The long wings give the bird
great manoeuvrability which enables it to reach top speads of 160 to 200 kilometers per hour. Nature lovers recognize it by the high pitched
sree-sree-sound.
In Berlin and Amersfoort new buildings are already being modified to get back the Common Swifts. There are even special Swift rooftiles available, with an
entrance hole. There is no danger of rain entering the hole. The bird lives in colonies and returns fastest to places where it nested before. To make the
bird popular among the residents of Groesbeek, a brochure from Amersfoort, containing all info on the Common Swift, is being copied.