my favourite bird -feathered!!

here is a view people very rarely see of my favourite bird. normally they are wheeling around from house height to tiny specs in the sky. they eat, drink and sleep on the wing, gather nesting material and mate on the wing, fly 100s of miles a day, arriving in this country late but leave early spending only 2 months here rearing a maximum of only 2 or 3 chicks a year, the chicks fly non stop for up to 5 years before they go nest hunting and eventually land to sit on eggs

and what am I talking about?

I thinks it's a swift!

Being pale it looks more like a pallid or Alpine Swift.

They are amazing birds. We have them here in Switzerland too, but always on the wing - probably on the way to you!.

How on earth did you manage to get hold of one?

Wow what a great shot and opportunity to see one up close! Thanks Mark :)

it's a baby just about ready to leave the nest. It was rung as part of a 10 year study of a Swift colony near me. young ones have the pale edges to the wings. these rub off as the bird ages.

Mark

Wow! They fly non-stop for 5 years before stopping? I never knew that.

They fly for five years?! How do they rest?

they fly using something like auto pilot rising high into the air to around 10,000 feet.