Apus nipalensis
The House Swift (Apus nipalensis) is a captivating aerial master, an avian marvel of the urban landscape across Asia. This medium-sized swift measures 15-16 cm in length with an impressive wingspan of 34-36 cm, weighing between 25-45 grams. Its plumage is uniformly sooty brown, appearing almost black against the sky, accented by a distinctive and prominent white patch on its throat and chin, and a shallowly forked tail that is less deeply notched than its close relative, the Common Swift. The...
Primarily found in urban and semi-urban environments, House Swifts thrive around human structures, cliffs, and sometimes caves, typically from lowlands up to mid-elevations around 2,000 meters.
Strictly insectivorous, House Swifts feed on a wide array of aerial insects, including flies, beetles, ants, and termites, caught while hawking at high speed in flight.
House Swifts are quintessential diurnal aerial insectivores, spending most of their lives on the wing, only landing to nest. They are highly gregarious, forming large, noisy colonies for breeding and communal roosting, often even sleeping on the wing. Foraging involves relentless, high-speed aeri...
The House Swift boasts a widespread distribution across South, Southeast, and East Asia, exhibiting both resident and migratory populations. Its breeding range extends from the Himalayan foothills (Nepal, northern India) eastward through southern China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula. So...
Least Concern
- House Swifts are among the most aerial of all birds, rarely touching the ground voluntarily outside of their nest site. - They are known to sleep on the wing, performing short bursts of gliding flight while resting one half of their brain at a time. - Their nests are engineering marvels, constr...