swifts

The swifts are often confused with swallows and house martins.

The swallows and house martins, they both build mud nests.

And superficially, they may look like swifts, but when you look in detail, you realise they don't.

And their aerial life is a little different.

When the swifts come to Ireland, they're the fastest flying bird that we have here.

They are very aerodynamic and they look almost totally black.

The only bit of white on a swift is under the throat.

And that patch of white only becomes visible when they have a throat full of food to feed their young.

We call that a bolus.

They collect hundreds of insects to feed their chicks.

So the swallow, going back to the swallow and the house martin, the swallow and the house martin, they both have a white belly.

And the swallow has also a brown throat.

So when you see them flying in the sky, the white belly is noticeable on both birds.

And on the house martin, as well as the white belly and a white throat, he has a white band just over the tail.

The swallow and the house martin build mud nests.

The swallows is in outbuildings.

They were previously known as barn swallows.

The house martin builds a mud nest under the gable of house.

It often looks like a coconut that's stuck under the eaves of a house.

So we can see their nests, but we actually never see a

swift's

nest.

The swift will enter a nook or a cranny in a building often just under the fascia board where the guttering is or near the eaves and they'll disappear into the building and they'll make their nest on top of the wall plate.

where the wall meets the roof.

And their nest is actually not really a nest.