Common swift

There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page. Across the range it feeds almost exclusively on flying insects and other aerial arthropods caught in flight — often called “aerial plankton”. Prey groups in species-level literature commonly include flies, beetles, bugs, and flying ants. It drinks and gathers nest material on the wing. That is the general trophic niche, not a measured Georgian menu.

It is active by day and spends almost its entire life in the air outside the nest. Flight is fast and stiff-winged, with deep beats and long glides; the silhouette looks like an anchor or crescent. The usual call is a loud, shrill scream, often from screaming parties circling near nesting buildings in summer evenings. No Georgian recording is on this page. Nesting is colonial when sites allow. Species-level clutches are often two or three white eggs; incubation and nestling periods are commonly given around two and a half to about six weeks depending on weather and food; chicks can slow growth when insects are scarce. Those figures are from the wider range, not a Georgian nest sample on this page. Adults usually leave breeding areas earlier than the young. The 2024 checklist treats the species as a breeder and migrant in Georgia, not as a winter visitor. At species level, western Palearctic birds winter mainly in Africa south of the Sahara; that is not a satellite-tracked Georgian route on this page. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabulated here. Grounded birds struggle to take off from flat ground because the legs are very short; do not leave a grounded swift on open pavement if it appears uninjured — contact a wildlife rehabilitator or lift it carefully onto a high open perch so it can launch, without forcing handling.

BirdLife International assesses Apus apus as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. The global population is large. The 2024 Georgian bird checklist assigns global and national Red List category LC. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Government Resolution No. 190). Independently, the 2021 European Red List of Birds assesses the species as Near Threatened in Europe (criteria A2bc+3bc+4bc), with a decreasing European trend; that regional assessment is not the same as Georgia’s national LC code. A Georgia-specific population trend is not quantified on this page. Documented pressures at species level include loss of nest cavities during building renovation, fewer flying insects, and collision or trapping at nest sites; that is not a ranked national threat list for Georgia. The EU Birds Directive does not apply in Georgia. Do not block nest holes in the breeding season without providing alternatives. Do not catch wild birds.