I am not a bird person exactly. Well, I have known birds, seen some from up close. But I couldn’t tell a story a bout birds like this one here.
No British summer would be complete without the screech of Swifts darting overhead. This distinctive call is incomparably evocative of a blissful, warm summers day; for me a trigger of childhood memories playing out in the fields during ever-lasting school breaks or later, time spent in a third-floor apartment in St Ives, Cornwall (heaven!) where, once evening fell, a group of overzealous Swifts would rise up steep streets from the town below and erupt volcano-like inches from the old wooden window frames, plucking insects from the humid air at what seemed a million miles per hour, screeches reverberating so loud as if they were all but in the room before squealing excitedly back into the streets below, their whistle trailing off like a distant firework.
Now I’m more content to whittle away summer evenings watching and listening to the Swifts high above my home and the fields next-door from the…
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Random thoughts 
Thanks so much for reblogging this. It is a great story. I knew swifts were wonderful (also that we’re desperately short of them in the UK these days) but not what very, very extraordinary life forms they are.
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You are so welcome. I found it a great story
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I love swifts, barn swallows, tree swallows. Sadly we had to ‘roof over’ our chimneys last year to keep the swifts from colonizing them, and when we lost our barn, the barn swallows left for better quarters. As a kid I used to love sitting in the barn, watching them fly in and out…
but our tree swallows are very similar to swifts, so we sit on the porch and watch, and listen…our swifts in this country don’t make those sounds that you describe, it’s more of a high pitched twittery call…
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is there space for me to come and live with you? I promise you i am a lazy person and i can sit and just watch birds
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We get Barn Swallows and Pearl Breasted Swallows at our spot, ( not Swifts as far as I know) and they dart all over the place in summer when there are loads of insects about.
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Your spot should be a game reserve of sorts man
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Come on! We both live in Africa. You have much of the same stuff up in your neck of the woods – more I shouldn’t wonder.
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Somehow not in the city or even where I live. There are few birds here. In the village is a different story
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In front of our apartment building, we have lovely evergreen conifer trees that provide habitat for a variety of birds particularly house sparrows, starlings, stellar jays, scrub jays, doves, and crows. We also regularly get visits from mallard ducks, Canadian geese, red tail hawks and other raptors. Just around the corner at the local store, seagulls are ubiquitous. At short distance away over the hill, golden eagles roam the skies.
From my second-story vantage-point, it is easy to watch their behavior and interactions which is fascinating and highly entertaining. House sparrows and starlings sometimes fly recklessly and could use some safety training. Doves and crows, for some reason, do not like each other. Jays are some of the most mischievous creatures I’ve ever observed. Golden eagles appear to have a serious attitude problem, and I suggest they get some psychiatric help. I love bird brains!
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We also have other interesting birds such as killdeer, pintail ducks, grebes, and blue heron.
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this is so funny.
there are not so many birds here. when i lived in the countryside, it was a different story altogether. i think i miss the sounds of birds chirping
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🙂
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The sound and site of the swifts: that is summer!
And they are really astonishing birds. After breeding here in Europe, the take to the air and remain airborne for months nonstop. They get their food and liquid from the insects they catch and probably they sleep with half a brain at a time. These birds are a constant source of fascination to me.
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I was fascinated when I read that.
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I’m not in any way a “bird” person. I know we have a fair amount of visitors to our yard and I do recognize pigeons (beautiful, but messy), doves, robins, woodpeckers, blue jays, an occasional hawk, and of course, various sparrows. (There might be a “Swift,” in the mix, but I wouldn’t have a clue.)
Apparently, Meadowlark is the State bird, so there’s probably some of them flying around as well.
My other-half puts out feeders during the cooler months so we do get a fair assortment of visitors.
Interesting point … we also have a hummingbird feeder — which the woodpecker (!) has been using along with the hummers.
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That’s a good place to live. Birds add life to a place
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