Common swift back from Africa on April 23rd

Last Saturday I heard a familiar sound coming from high up in the sky. It was the srie-srie call of a common swift (Apus apus). The swifts had just arrived after their long journey from Africa. I have a special connection with these creatures of the sky.

Photomontage of common swifts circling in the air
in the Summer of 2006 Tilburg City NL

During my student days of Culture Studies, I lived in a student house right in the centre of Tilburg City in the South of the Netherlands. I just moved from a smaller room to the top room, and with much more living space than before. One Spring afternoon I heard little feet scratching at the chalk plates of my dormer. My first thought was: mice! That very same day I looked out of my roof top window and to my amazement, I saw a complete bird disappear in my dormer! The common swifts had found out that the hole of the former drainpipe was very useful as an entry to the dormer.

Since then, during two years in the student house, I have studied and enjoyed the common swifts nestling in my dormer. In the beginning, the fledglings were very quiet with only a muffled call now and again. When they grew bigger, I woke up every morning with the loud calls of 'get over here, I am hungry'.

Common swifts live in colonies and they help each other out in feeding all those very demanding chicks. It was a spectacular moment when the complete colony came to feed 'my fledglings': shrieking sounds and wings everywhere, on and off in only a matter of seconds.

At the end of June I saw a swift head popping out of the drainpipe hole, every now and again. The juveniles tried to get out of the hole in very clumsy poses. After watching their parents leave in a particular manner, they understood that they needed to let themselves fall down like a torpedo - to take wing eventually, catching the wind on their wings.

A juvenile common swift inspecting the surroundings
Summer 2006 Tilburg City NL



A juvenile common swift tries to get out of the nest though doesn't
succeed yet - Summer 2006 Tilburg City NL





















I am not living in the student house anymore. Every Spring I enjoy waiting for the common swifts to roam the air again, close to my recent home. I miss the little shrieks coming from underneath my roof. What an inspiring event to be part of for those two years!