Swift half news - 29th April 2010

• You might have noticed that in my introduction to this (my) new blog, at the start of April, I suggested I'd post quite infrequently - but whilst my favourite birds of all are back with us (our swifts), I'll probably post every day. They're here for about twelve weeks - that's all.
• Great news for this blog today - I have connected the Handykam Swift Cam (click on any handykam flashing label on this page to visit their site) via a Gardenature USB connector to the PC - and from today, 28th April 2o10, I can feed live footage of our swift space in the roof of our house "Swift Half", to anyone that's running a computer that has the capacity to handle live webcam footage, and isn't blocked by firewalls (at work for example!) This webstream can be seen at the top of the blog's front page.
• Regarding the web feed - I am limited to ten viewers at any one time and also limited by the fact that I have to have the computer on to broadcast. It's a free service, so I guess thats fair. BUT. If you see an "offline" still- it either means I've turned the computer off, or there are already ten viewers around the world, watching the webstream.
• At present, there is generally only one swift in the space at any one time, we think the female, but two are around (we hope a pair).
• Very often, the swift(s) are hunting constantly during the day - please remember these birds are virtually unique amongst birds - they are flying machines - built to fly and not much else. They do everything on the wing - sleep (when not breeding), mate, preen, drink, catch prey and even catch and bring feathers and grass in the air, on the wing and bring it back to the nest site. The only time you will ever see a swift land is when it is breeding. Very often a young male, upon fledging, will spend it's first two YEARS on the wing - and not land ONCE in that time. Their latin name, Apus apus, quite literally means "No foot. No foot" They do have feet of course, but their legs are incredibly short and they are pretty inept at walking. Our British swifts are all chocolate brown in colour, with a white patch under their beaks. Quite incredible are swifts - and thats why I find them fascinating.
• As for our footage - generally there is always a swift in the roof space between 20:30 at night and 07:30 in the morning. Quite a lot of preening and sleeping, and not much else right now, but Anna and I are very hopeful we will get an egg or two before too long.
• Swifts generally have 2 or 3 eggs, and until then, almost all footage of swifts in the roof space will be at night (UK time). Once (if?!) eggs are laid, then it all changes, and both parents (if both are still alive) will incubate and also both will bring food to the chicks regularly, should the eggs hatch.
• This food is pure and simple mashed up insects, caught on the wing (of course) and rolled into a "bolus" in the parents' swollen crops. If this occurs, you might well notice their white chins (crops) bulging with flies and beetles, brought in for the young. Swifts catch thousands and thousands (maybe 10,000+) insects a day.
• This is all speculation however (as far as our swifts are concerned) - as some viewers to this site might know, I found a dead adult swift and an unhatched egg in the roof space during the winter - last year (and the two years before) were not good for our swifts in the UK -and combine the poor weather with the lack of nest sites (we like our houses to be neat and tidy these days - no gaps under the roof etc...) and its fair to say that our British swifts are in REAL trouble.
• You can also watch our swift cam on camstreams live (see "my links" on the RHS of this page or click HERE).
• Today? Well - at least one of the swifts has caught two small fluffy pigeon down feathers in mid air of course and brought them into the nest. The female (probably) might glue these together with a little swift saliva to form a, cough, nest. Hem. There was a swift in the space when I started broadcasting live at 5pm tonight (UK time), but I think they're hunting again now. Its pretty humid here tonight, I guess the insects are out in force for them. EDIT - One swift (the female I hope) returned to the roof at 7:30pm. It has an hour or so of light still today, so may disappear for a while before settling down for the night - watch to see...
• Well anyway - Anna and I hope you enjoy our live swift footage at "Swift Half", and we hope even more that we have a successful swift year.