I’ll say it again. Heck. I’ll say it a million times.
Our world is chock full of amazing things.
Here is a question for you. Can you do anything for 10 months straight without stopping? Like hopping up and down on one foot. Or signing Do-Re-Me repeatedly without end?
I’m guessing the answer is no.
We can’t because we humans aren’t set up for that sort of thing. We don’t work that way.
But certain creatures in our world are amazing when it comes to endurance.
And when it comes to this? There is one bird that wins the prize. You see, biologists have discovered that a little bird called the common swift (Apus apus) can fly for 10 months straight without landing.
All of this was done by scientists at Lund University in Sweden. They used a new type of data logger that detects both light and the movement of the birds. When they studied the common swift, they discovered that while some individuals might occasionally land for brief periods, most of those little birds remain airborne for their entire 10-month migration period.
Anyone who knows birds also knows that many birds can fly long distances.
Like. The wandering albatross. That thing can travel 10,000 miles (16,090 kilometers) without flapping its wings even once. And researchers have determined that hummingbirds can fly 29 million times the length of their own body without stopping.
But what is unique and mystifying about the common swift? Its flight requires almost constant wing-flapping. They don’t soar, or drift, or coast. And that makes its grueling migratory habits even more of a physiological mystery than that of a soaring bird like the albatross, which is basically a big hang glider.
When do they eat? When do they sleep? When do they brush their little beak teeth?
Well. The researchers don’t have answers to any of these questions yet.
Swifts, in general, are remarkably adaptable when it comes to choosing their homes.
Traditionally, swifts nest in hollow trees. But they have had to move to urban areas because of humans. As such, you can find them nesting in old wells and air shafts. Chimneys and buildings offer the vertical surfaces that swifts need for nesting.
I should point out that the common swift is different from its relative, the chimney swift.
As long-distance migrants, each common swift bird spends the winter months in warmer climates. Some of them stay in eastern Peru, and other parts of the Amazon Basin are in South America. Other swifts make their way to Eurasia and Southern Africa.
But to note here. The long-flying common swifts are rarely found in North America
We have chimney swifts. Often described as “a flying cigar,” swifts have short bodies and long, narrow wings. Their sooty, gray color and high-pitched voice are distinctive. Although they can sometimes be mistaken for bats. Just FYI.
Both species are facing are facing challenges. They have had population declines due to climate change and habitat destruction. The decline in flying insects, crucial for their diet, is a significant concern.
But back to the long fliers.
I think it is quite amazing that these birds are flying for ten solid months.
I wonder if they enjoy it or if it is a long, tiresome burden for them.
I hope the flying that way makes them happy.
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“In order to see birds, it is necessary to become a part of the silence.” — Robert Lynd
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“The bird dares to break the shell, then the shell breaks open and the bird can fly openly. This is the simplest principle of success.” — Sri Chinmoy
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“Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” — Henry Van Dyke
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