Alpine swift
| Alpine swift | |
|---|---|
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| Flying in Spain | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Apodiformes |
| Family: | Apodidae |
| Genus: | Tachymarptis |
| Species: | T. melba |
| Binomial name | |
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Tachymarptis melba (Linnaeus, 1758) |
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| Distribution; see text for details | |
| Synonyms | |
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Apus melba |
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Apus melba
The Alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) formerly Apus melba, is a species of swift. The genus name is from the Ancient Greek takhus, "fast", and marptis, "seizer". The specific melba has no known explanation.
Alpine swifts breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are strongly migratory, and winter much further south in southern Africa.
Swifts have very short legs which are used for clinging to vertical surfaces. They never settle voluntarily on the ground, spending most of their lives in the air living on the insects they catch in their beaks. Alpine swift are able to stay aloft in the air for up to seven months at a time, even drinking water "on the wing".
The bird is superficially similar to a large barn swallow or house martin. It is, however, completely unrelated to those passerine species, since swifts are in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar life styles.
Swifts have very short legs which they use only for clinging to vertical surfaces. The scientific name Apodidae comes from the Ancient Greek απους, apous, meaning "without feet". They never settle voluntarily on the ground.
Alpine swifts breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are strongly migratory, and winter much further south in southern Africa. They wander widely on migration, and are regularly seen in much of southern Europe and Asia. The species seems to have been much more widespread during the last ice age, with a large colony breeding, for example in the Late Cave No 16, Bulgaria, around 18,000–40,000 years ago. The same situation has been found for Komarowa Cave near , Poland during a period about 20,000–40,000 years ago.
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