Alpine swift
Tachymarptis melba
Pascal Dubois · 42220 Saint-Julien-Molin-Molette
Key facts in one look
- Size
- 20–22 cm, wingspan 54–60 cm; about 100 g
- Diet
- Flying insects, spiders
- Status in Georgia
- Breeding bird, migrant
- Recorded regions
- Mtskheta-Mtianeti; Tbilisi; Kakheti
- Habitat
- Mountain cliffs, buildings, open sky
- Family
- Apodidae
- Conservation
- Global LC (2024); Georgia LC (2024)
The alpine swift can fly for more than 200 days without landing anywhere: it feeds, drinks and sleeps in the air. It is a large swift, 20–22 cm long with a wingspan of 54–60 cm, and about twice the size of most other swifts in its range. It is olive-brown above, with a white belly and throat below, split by a dark band across the breast. It is harmless to people. If you see a white-bellied bird much bigger than a swallow high in the sky, it is most likely an alpine swift. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a breeding bird and a migrant. In Georgia it is seen from March to September, most often in May. Most records come from Kazbegi Municipality, Tbilisi and Dedoplistskaro Municipality. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC).
Identification
Alpine swift: how to identify it
It is almost always seen in flight: long, sickle-shaped wings and a short, slightly forked tail. It is olive-brown above, and the white belly catches your eye at once. It looks like a common swift, but it is much bigger and has a white belly.
It has a large oval white patch on the belly and a white throat, though the throat is not always visible from a distance. A dark brown band crosses the breast between them, and the flanks and undertail are brown. The common swift is almost entirely dark, so the white belly is the key difference.
It is 20–22 cm long, with a wingspan of 54–60 cm and a weight of about 100 g. The wings are long and swept back, like a sickle or a boomerang. From a distance it looks like a large swallow, but it is not related and is much bigger.
Its flight is slower and more powerful than that of smaller swifts, with deep, unhurried wingbeats. The call is a drawn-out twittering. The sexes look alike; the male's tail fork is about 7% longer on average, and young birds have pale-edged feathers.
Colour
Swatches are illustrative. Do not identify a species by colour alone.
Often confused with
It is a bird of the mountains: it nests in crevices and on ledges of cliffs, and in places on tall buildings. It feeds in the open sky and travels long distances to do so, over forests, steppe and towns. In Europe and the Mediterranean it usually breeds below 1500 m, sometimes up to 2300 m. Across its whole range it occurs up to 4600 m. In Georgia most records come from Mtskheta-Mtianeti, in Kazbegi Municipality: from Stepantsminda and Gergeti, between April and September. In Tbilisi it has been seen many times, especially in Gldani, and also in Vake, Saburtalo and near Lisi. In Kakheti the records come mainly from Dedoplistskaro Municipality, in April and May. There are single records near Nadarbazevi Lake, at the Tbilisi Sea, in Gardabani Municipality and near Kobuleti, Khelvachauri and Tkibuli.
The Alpine swift map combines public iNaturalist observations. Regions are taken from the records-by-region table, and the status column separates regions with enough records from regions with too few records. Record counts reflect observation effort rather than population density. Three regions have enough records: Mtskheta-Mtianeti, Kakheti and Tbilisi.
Data: Reptiles.ge + iNaturalist · Methodology
- Field observation
- Several records in one spot
- Photo record
- Region with records
It hunts only in the air: it catches flying insects in its beak on the wing, and sometimes spiders. Studies of its food in Africa and Europe found insects from 10 orders and 79 families. It most often eats homopterans, flies and hymenopterans. In cold, rainy weather there are fewer insects in the air, so the weather directly affects its chicks.
It is strongly migratory. Western Palearctic birds probably winter in tropical Africa, and in Georgia it is seen from March to September. It spends almost its whole life in the air: six birds fitted with tags in 2011 stayed aloft for more than 200 days without landing. It drinks and sleeps on the wing, and roosts clinging to cliffs and walls. Its legs are very short and used only to cling to vertical surfaces. It never settles on the ground by choice. At dawn and dusk it often climbs high and flies far, possibly as part of social behaviour. It breeds in colonies, sometimes of hundreds of pairs, on cliffs or buildings. Pairs stay together and return to the same site every year. It breeds from March to June. The nest is a flat saucer of feathers bound with dry plant matter and saliva. The female lays 1–4 eggs, usually 3, and both parents incubate and feed the chicks. The chicks fledge in 50–70 days. If bad weather stops the parents from catching insects, the chicks can lower their body temperature and become torpid.
Globally the alpine swift is rated Least Concern (LC, 2024). A preliminary estimate puts the number of mature birds at 2,160,000–4,870,000, and the trend is unknown. In Europe 323,000–726,000 pairs breed. The threats are the loss of foraging areas to development and pesticides, which reduce the number and variety of insects. The species is listed in Appendix II of the Bern Convention. The 2024 Georgian checklist also rates it Least Concern (LC) in Georgia.
Pascal Dubois · Karim Haddad · vojtobalaz · Roberto Ghiglia · Nikita Tiunov · juan manuel pérez rayego · Miroslav Marić
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Yes. The 2024 Georgian checklist lists it as a breeding bird and a migrant. It is seen from March to September, most often in May. It probably spends the winter in tropical Africa.
Most records come from Kazbegi Municipality, from Stepantsminda and Gergeti. In Tbilisi it has been seen many times, especially in Gldani, and in Kakheti in Dedoplistskaro Municipality. There are single records from Shida Kartli, Kvemo Kartli, Adjara and Imereti. Look for it in the sky, near cliffs.
By size and the white belly. The alpine swift's wingspan is 54–60 cm, the common swift's about 42 cm. The alpine swift has a white belly and throat with a dark band across the breast, while the common swift is almost entirely dark. It also beats its wings more slowly and powerfully.
It is 20–22 cm long, with a wingspan of 54–60 cm and a weight of about 100 g. It is about twice the size of most other swifts in its range. From a distance it looks like a swallow, but it is much bigger.
Yes. Six birds fitted with tags in 2011 stayed aloft for more than 200 days without landing. It feeds, drinks and sleeps in the air. It never settles on the ground by choice and roosts clinging to cliffs and walls.
Only small animals caught in the air: mainly insects, sometimes spiders. It most often catches homopterans, flies and hymenopterans. It takes its prey in its beak on the wing.
It is harmless to people. Both globally and in Georgia it is rated Least Concern (LC), although its population trend is unknown. Pesticides threaten it by reducing insects. If you find an injured bird on the ground, call 112 or the environmental protection service.
References
What this profile is based on
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
Prepared by the Reptiles.ge editorial team from the sources listed here.
