#1229 · 🐦 birds

Plain Swift

🇳🇱 Madeiragierzwaluw ·Apus unicolor

LCleast concern 🐦 Birds 📍 in Europe, not in NL

10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences

1. © Miguel Arribas · CC BY-NC 4.0
2. © Jan Ebr & Ivana Ebrová · CC BY 4.0
3. © Carmelo López Abad · CC BY-NC 4.0
4. © A Emmerson · CC BY-NC 4.0
5. © Paul Cools · CC BY-NC 4.0
6. © joan2004 · CC BY-NC 4.0
7. Chefchaouen, Morocco:© Oscar Wainwright · CC BY-NC 4.0
8. 4100 Porto, Portugal:© Escola Básica de Pedras Salgadas · CC BY-NC 4.0
9. Porto, Portugal:© João Esteves · CC BY-NC 4.0
10. Porto, Portugal:© Carlos Figueiredo · CC BY-NC 4.0

what is it?

The plain swift ( Apus unicolor ) is a medium-sized swift. Although this bird is superficially similar to a barn swallow or house martin, it is not related to those passerine species. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution reflecting similar life styles.

base stats

NL sightings 0iNaturalist, research grade
worldwide 675iNaturalist observations
weight 2.4 gadult, up to
threat LCleast concern

Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).

fun facts

No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
675 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
Weighs only about 2 g.
Scientifically named by Sir William Jardine, 7th Baronet in 1830 (196 years ago).