Where are my swifts?

[Madelinew]

My swifts have vanished. Surely thay haven't headed off already. Do they know something we don't?

On the plus side I rather amazingly heard my first cuckoo of the year today. It was very faint but definitely a cuckoo. Last minute attempt befor eheading south I suppose. My resident blackbirds are still nest building and must be considering their third brood. The garden is overrun with young blackbrids along with the very succesful blue tit families this year.

[richnfamous]

I don't think it's unusual for the swifts to disappear in late July - early August. On the other hand, seeing as they can literally live on the wing 24/7, it could be that they're just very high up.

[RoyW]

Late July-early August is the typical time for breeding Swifts to leave. They are only here to breed (with only a few arriving before early May), and leave as almost as soon as their young have fledged.
A few stragglers may remain later into the autumn, and some migrants from elsewhere will pass through - most being seen along the east coast, so there will be reports until mid/late October though.

Roy.

PS. I haven't seen a Swift locally for about 10 days (I haven't been looking too hard, but as they breed in nearby buildings I don't need to while they are here!).



Edit; Adult Cuckoos have also left by now - they don't even need to wait until their young have fledged! It's possible that you may have heard a young male trying out it's song. Young males of many species will sometimes give a quiet version of song known as subsong (also given by adult males), which is sometimes thought of as practise. In other species they may learn from listening to other males, but at least the basics of the song seem to be known intuitively.

[aeshna5]

My local birds disappeared just over a week ago, though did see 2 with a couple of local pairs of Swallow + saw a couple by Dorking Station today.

[FUDGEY]

Only a few stragglers left here in SW Scotland, pretty normal timing. I dis see a House Sparrow building a nest today, by the time the nests complete, eggs laid, incubated the young will be fledging by end of Sept maybe early October!

[ChrisJB]

Mine left on the 9th Aug', the earliest I've known. Last year they stayed their latest, the 23rd.

Regards, Chris

[Hedera]

Noticed the other evening there were no swifts or swallows about, hadn't heard them for a bout a week. Perhaps the wet weather had stopped the insects flying for their food?

[richnfamous]

There are still plenty of swallows around here, but the swifts have gone.

[pegasus]

Yes --they've cleared off round here too. I noticed large groups of swifts the other day,so assumed they were planning their southerly travel arrangements.
A slightly meloncholy time i think as it heralds the beginning of autumn[and then flippin' winter!]--On the plus -side lots of arrivals soon.

[John]

I have had a colony of Swifts near where I live and I also pass seven different colony's on my way to work. All have gone for well over a week now.

As already mentioned, most will have departed these shores by now. You will always get the odd straggler, and a bit later on a few migrants will be pushed this way, but overall they have gone by now.

I'm not sure if you have heard a Cuckoo though as they should have all gone by now, apart from possibly the odd Juvenile. I'm not sure that a Juvenile would give a full blown Cuckoo song. Are you sure it wasn't a call sounding similar to a Cuckoo.

John