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Swift

Swifts

Chimney Swift
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Aves
Order: Apodiformes
Family†: Apodidae
Genera
many:see species list
† see also: hummingbird
tree swift

The swifts are the most aerial of birds, some, like the Common Swift even sleeping on the wing.

They are superficially similar to swallows but are completely unrelated to those passerine species, since swifts are in the separate order Apodiformes, which they share with the hummingbirds.

The resemblances between the groups 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". These birds have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, and perch on vertical surfaces.

Like swallows and martins, the swifts of temperate regions are strongly migratory, and they 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 is characterised by a distinctive "flicking" action quite different from swallows.

The nest 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

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.

Species list

Family: Apodidae