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Swift

Encyclopedia : S : SW : SWI : Swift

For other uses, see Swift (disambiguation)}}}.

The swifts are birds superficially similar to swallows but are actually not closely related to those passerine species at all; swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they formerly shared with the hummingbirds.

The resemblances between the swifts and swallows are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles based on catching insects in flight.

The family scientific name comes from the Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet", since swifts have very short legs and never settle voluntarily on the ground, perching instead on vertical surfaces. The tradition of depicting swifts without feet continued into the Middle Ages, as seen in the heraldic martlet.

Swifts are the most aerial of birds and some, like the Common Swift, even sleep and mate on the wing. Larger species, such as white-throated needletail, are amongst the fastest flyers in animal kingdom. One group, the Swiftlets or Cave Swiftlets have developed a form of echolocation for navigating through dark cave systems where they roost. One species, Aerodramus papuensis has recently been discovered to use this navigation at night outside its cave roost also.

Like swallows and martins, the swifts of temperate regions are strongly migratory and winter in the tropics.

Many swifts have a characteristic shape, with a short forked tail and very long swept-back wings that resemble a crescent or a boomerang. The flight of some species is characterised by a distinctive "flicking" action quite different from swallows.

The nest of many species is glued to a vertical surface with saliva, and the genus Aerodramus use only that substance, which is the basis for bird's nest soup.

Contents

Taxonomy

In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, the old order Apodiformes is split. Swifts remain in that order, but hummingbirds are put into a new order, Trochiliformes.

The taxonomy of this group is in general complicated, with genus and species boundaries widely disputed, especially amongst the swiftlets.

The treeswifts are closely related to the true swifts, but form a separate family.

Species list: Family Apodidae

Tribe Cypseloidini

Tribe Collocaliini -
  • Waterfall Swift, Hydrochous gigas
  • Glossy Swiftlet, Collocalia esculenta
  • Cave Swiftlet, Collocalia linchi
  • Pygmy Swiftlet, Collocalia troglodytes
  • Seychelles Swiftlet, Aerodramus elaphrus
  • Mascarene Swiftlet, Aerodramus francicus
  • Indian Swiftlet, Aerodramus unicolor
  • Philippine Swiftlet, Aerodramus mearnsi
  • Moluccan Swiftlet, Aerodramus infuscatus
  • Mountain Swiftlet, Aerodramus hirundinaceus
  • White-rumped Swiftlet, Aerodramus spodiopygius
  • Australian Swiftlet, Aerodramus terraereginae
  • Himalayan Swiftlet, Aerodramus brevirostris
  • Indochinese Swiftlet, Aerodramus rogersi
  • Volcano Swiftlet, Aerodramus vulcanorum
  • Whitehead's Swiftlet, Aerodramus whiteheadi
  • Bare-legged Swiftlet, Aerodramus nuditarsus
  • Mayr's Swiftlet, Aerodramus orientalis
  • Palawan Swiftlet, Aerodramus palawanensis
  • Mossy-nest Swiftlet, Aerodramus salangana
  • Uniform Swiftlet, Aerodramus vanikorensis
  • Palau Swiftlet, Aerodramus pelewensis
  • Guam Swiftlet, Aerodramus bartschi
  • Caroline Islands Swiftlet, Aerodramus inquietus
  • Atiu Swiftlet, Aerodramus sawtelli
  • Polynesian Swiftlet, Aerodramus leucophaeus
  • Marquesan Swiftlet, Aerodramus ocistus
  • Black-nest Swiftlet, Aerodramus maximus
  • Edible-nest Swiftlet, Aerodramus fuciphagus
  • German's Swiftlet, Aerodramus germani
  • Papuan Swiftlet, Aerodramus papuensis
  • Scarce Swift, Schoutedenapus myoptilus
  • Schouteden's Swift, Schoutedenapus schoutedeni

Tribe Chaeturini - needletails

Tribe Apodini - typical swifts

Reference

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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