An unusual overnight guest

[Ursus Minor]

Also quite amazing that they indeed are almost constantly in the air (up to 10 months non-stop) and sleep in the air.

 

[Cosmos]

Here's such a performance -

I tell ya, even the video doesn’t give full justice to their flying skills. You have to see it in real life. They are flying like living fighter Jets with the difference that they fly much smoother and better. Incredible rotations around their own axis included. Also amazing to see how fast they flap their wings when you know they fly like that almost constantly for 10 months non-stop! One would assume that that much flapping would be very energy expensive, yet they can do it without problems 10 months non-stop. Nature is incredible.

 

[Cosmos]

Here's some slow motion footage:

And here more facts about the bird (just ignore the horrible "music"):

They can live up to 20 years (pretty old for a bird) and can fly over 3 Million Miles in their lifetimes (that's seven round trips to the moon!)

 

[Faith]

I'm glad you enjoy this little story. I guess there is always beauty to be found, even in these, rather ugly times. When I watch the swifts shooting across the sky, I hope my visitor is amongst them. Now that I got acquainted with one of them, I see them with slightly different eyes. Natural beauty really is powerful and can give a person much strength, just by watching and experiencing it. As Gurdjieff said, impressions are a form of food.

The reason why the common swift has a hard time getting back up is its toe arrangement. It has no back toe, which is needed for jumping around on the ground. It's better suited for climbing and hanging on to something.

They are flying like living fighter Jets with the difference that they fly much smoother and better.

For the insects the swifts really are little fighter jets. They catch them with their mouths wide open. You wouldn't expect such a big mouth when you see that cute little beak

 

[Green_Manalishi]

Nice story, and glad it went on is way.

Isn't an encounter like that with a "common wild" animal, 1000x better then seeing any exotic animal in a zoo?

For me, there isn't any other sound that represents summer better then a group of swifts screaming! It just reminds me of those late hot summer afternoons, where the hot atmosphere just seems to hold you up in the air. Whenever i hear them i automatically calm down.