Alpine Swift

Tachymarptis melba - Martinet à ventre blanc

Systematics

Order
:
Apodiformes
Family
:
Apodidés
Genus
:
Tachymarptis
Species
:
melba

Descriptor

Linnaeus, 1758

Biometrics

Size
: 22 cm
Wingspan
: 54 à 60 cm.
Weight
: 80 à 120 g

Geographic range

Distribution

Identification

The Alpine Swift, as its name suggests, has a white belly and throat, separated by a brown collar. The wings and back are brown-gray. The other major characteristic of the bird is its very large size, nearly one and a half times larger than that of the black swift.

Subspecific information 10 subspecies

Tachymarptis melba melba (s Europe through Turkey to nw Iran)
Tachymarptis melba tuneti (Morocco through the Middle East and e to w Pakistan)
Tachymarptis melba archeri (n Somalia, sw Arabia to Jordan and Israel)
Tachymarptis melba maximus (Rwenzori Mts.. ne DRCongo, Uganda.)
Tachymarptis melba africanus (Ethiopia to South Africa and sw Angola)
Tachymarptis melba marjoriae (nc Namibia, nw South Africa)
Tachymarptis melba willsi (Madagascar)
Tachymarptis melba nubifugus (Himalayas)
Tachymarptis melba dorabtatai (w India)
Tachymarptis melba bakeri (Sri Lanka)

Foreign names

Martinet à ventre blanc,
Vencejo real,
andorinhão-real,
Alpensegler,
havasi sarlósfecske,
Alpengierzwaluw,
Rondone maggiore,
alpseglare,
Alpeseiler,
dážďovník skalný,
rorýs velký,
Alpesejler,
alppikiitäjä,
Witpenswindswael,
ballester comú,
Alpasvölungur,
jerzyk alpejski,
Alpu svīre,
planinski hudournik,
Белобрюхий стриж,
シロハラアマツバメ,
高山雨燕,
高山雨燕,

Voice song and call

play
pause

The call of the Alpine Swift, pushed in the same situations as the black swift (pursuits around the colony ...) is less shrill, longer, more rolled and more varied in its rhythm, its intonations and its syllables.

Habitat

The Alpine Swift is typical of steep mountain areas and cliffs, and is much rarer than the Black Swift in urban areas (see § Nesting).

Behaviour character trait

This Alpine Swift migrates to the Tropics of Africa in September and is back between March and April.

Flight

Like all Alpine Swifts, the Alpine Swift is admired for its flying technique when hunting or playing tag, made even more spectacular by its size and slower wing beats that give off an impression of relaxed power.

Dietfeeding habits

The Alpine Swift exclusively hunts flying insects at altitudes higher than its black cousin.

Reproduction nesting

The Alpine Swift chooses, for its colonies, natural sites consisting of crevices in vertical rock faces, although sporadically one observes nestings in the structures of urban edifices.

Between one and five eggs are laid in the early month of May onto a lining of materials such as feathers, straw and textile threads. After a 21-day incubation period, the young are fed by balls of insects captured in-flight by the parents, until the flight which takes place in July, eight to nine weeks later depending on the weather conditions, thus the yield of the hunt.

Geographic range

This Alpine Swift is only present in the southern part of Europe: Spain and Pyrenees, Mediterranean coast, Massif Central, Alps (up to Jura), Italy, Corsica and Sardinia, Greece, Balkans, Turkey.