Common Swift / Gierzwaluw

Common Swift (Apus apus)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
© Jim Saulino	© Jim Saulino	© Jim Saulino

Common Swift: The photos of this Swift constitute the first observation of this bird in South America and of course it is also NEW FOR SURINAME (as we count, it is number 740 on the checklist of birds). It was observed and photographed on the 12th of July 2012 by Jim Saulino and Andy Williams on board of a research vessel in front of the coast of Suriname about 280 km out on sea.
The bird was first misidentified and the photo ended up on internet where it was seen by Brooke Keeney. Arie Spaans got a message by Tom Schulenberg at the end of June 2013 and we (Spaans, Ottema and Ribot) are now pretty sure it is a Common Swift, a bird common in Europe, Asia and wintering in Africa. More pictures were made that day.
The common Swift is a remarkable bird as it can mate in flight and can sleep on the wing and so stay airborne for many months A common Swift was already seen in Bermuda and probably in Eastern America, according to 'Birds in North America' by National Geographic, so crossing the Atlantic seems to happen more often.

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Apus apus
Order:	Apodiformes
Family:	Apodidae, 10 in Suriname
Dutch:	Gierzwaluw
English:	Common Swift
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):	Vencejo común
Portugese (Brazil):
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Martinet noir

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 1 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 1 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).