How to get out a swift at home. Black swift: how to feed a chick and an adult at home? Treatment for a swift

Do you often look out the window or look at the sky in the summer, leaving for work early in the morning and returning from work late in the evening from Monday to Friday? In a heap of momentary troubles, constant dissatisfaction with life, resentment, squabbles, health problems, we often do not notice the simplest and most accessible to everyone - the beauty of nature.

I myself was mired in all this, as if blind. Today, with surprise, I noticed flocks of swifts flying right in front of my window and making a piercing squeak. But these birds fly to us in the first half of May, and from South Africa! Our swifts can be observed by semi-wild African tribes, who still use homemade spears for hunting and live in clay shacks. Here is such a hello to them from us and to us from them. For example, Egypt, where many Russians like to relax and where it takes 4-5 hours to fly by plane from Moscow, is only North Africa.

As a child, I had to pick up and bring home the young that had fallen from the nest several times. This happened more often in rainy weather, when the nests became more wet and slippery.

Unfortunately, we have never been able to feed the cubs and after a while they died. But don't despair, we can help!

Common misconceptions

I always thought that swifts cannot take off from the ground, they supposedly need to fall down from a height to fly. Actually, it is not. Adult birds take off perfectly from clear ground, without obstacles in the form of thick grass and other irregularities that can interfere with takeoff. If an adult does not fly away, most likely, there may be health problems.

Another common myth is that if you return a fallen chick to the nest, then the parents will not accept it, as they will smell the person. Even if they accept, they would only find that nest!

How to help?

First of all, check on the Internet if there are specialized rehabilitation centers for birds, in which the chicks will be able to provide qualified assistance. Here are just a few of them:

• "Association of Bird Lovers", St. Petersburg.
• "Green Parrot", Moscow.
• "Birds Without Borders" A. I. Kuindzhi, Ryazan region.
• "Chamomile", Tver region.
• "Phoenix", Kaluga.
• "Smolenskoye Poozerye", Smolensk.
• Simbirsk Rescue Center wild birds”, Ulyanovsk.

If the center is not nearby, contact the city veterinary clinic or veterinary station.

Initial steps:

1. Determine who you found - a chick or an adult. Babies have white edging on large flight wings, and white specks can be seen on their heads. Chicks are also distinguished by the tubes from which feathers open.
2. Perform a general visual inspection- are there any visible damage and injuries, is the integrity of the plumage broken. Carefully inspect the wings and legs. Compare body parts in pairs - they should not differ much. If one wing is lower than the other and dangles uncharacteristically, it is probably broken. A broken foot can also dangle. If a fracture is suspected, only a veterinarian can help. If the bird's keel sticks out noticeably, and there are few muscles around it, then most likely the bird is emaciated and will need to be fattened.
3. If there are no visible injuries, but the swift looks lethargic and inactive, it is also necessary to take it to the veterinarian for testing in order to exclude common infectious diseases. It should be checked for ornithosis, salmonellosis, fungi, bacteria, protozoa, helminths, influenza virus. When dealing with a bird, observe the rules of personal hygiene, wash your hands with soap and water after each contact, especially after cleaning the droppings.
4. A sedentary bird that refuses to eat needs to be warmed up. You can use 40 and 60 W light bulbs located at a distance of about 50 cm from the box (the light should not fall on the swift). Heating pads, hot water bottles are also suitable.
5. Check if the swift is able to eat. To do this, take a small insulin syringe, draw 0.2 ml of warm boiled water from the kettle into it and gently drop 1 drop into the beak, trying to get on the tongue. If the bird swallows at the same time, then the swallowing reflex is preserved. This is a good sign!
6. The haircut should be located in the shade, not in a draft. You can use a box 30 by 40 cm (width, length) and 15-20 cm in height. Lay several layers of toilet paper on the bottom, which will absorb excess moisture. Be sure to build a nest inside the shelter, in a secluded corner. Regular foam will do. Cover the top of the box with cheesecloth. Place a 40-60 W lamp nearby for warming up (the light should not fall on the nest).
7. It is impossible to wash or trim the feathers of the swift. Wipe them gently with a chamomile solution as much as possible.

Feeding rules

Swifts feed on compressed lumps of insects 50-70 times a day. In the early days, you can use baby meat puree, consisting of beef and turkey, as well as low-fat 0% cottage cheese mixed with gammarus and daphnia (available at aquarium stores). Use an insulin syringe for feeding. Feeding frequency 1 time per hour, 0.4 ml of puree at a time.

The simplest and most affordable food is boiled egg(mushy protein and only a little), raw chicken fillet, finely chopped to a pâté state (mix with water to become thin).

Insects in the diet will still have to be added. Suitable maggots (you can buy in stores for fishermen), drones, crickets, ant eggs, moths, caterpillars, flies. It is advisable to soak them in warm water before use.

By the way, insects can be stored for future use and stored in the freezer. They are mixed into a single mass, a little water is added, balls are rolled up and put into the freezer, covered with paper or foil on top.

Bread and grains are not suitable for food - the chick will die. Milk will cause permanent diarrhea.

At the end of the next feeding, the swift should drink water. Pour about 4-5 drops of liquid into the beak.

Before the next session of eating, carefully wrap the bird in a scarf or napkin and take it in your left hand. With your right hand, gently open the beak and fix the gap with the tip of your index finger.

Using tweezers, take the cooked insect (or other food) and place it at the bottom of the throat, at the base of the tongue. After feeding, gently stroke the feathers on the neck to build trust in the chick.

Each chick eats up to 50 medium-sized crickets per day. This means that in one sitting (1 time per hour) 3 similar insects should be fed.

You need to feed the chick from 5 o'clock in the morning until late in the evening. An older individual can be fed less often, but more plentifully.

An adult bird, ready to fly, should weigh from 40 to 44 g and have a body length of 20 to 24 cm.

Flight

Don't worry about flying, this skill is laid down at the genetic level. It is necessary to release a strengthened swift on a mowed field or other open area. Place your pet on an open palm and raise it above head level. No need to toss.

Ideally, you will feel a slight shiver - the swift will begin to warm up the muscles and soon fly away. If he lands nearby, it means that he is not yet quite ready for independence. It will take another 2-3 days of the usual care.

Tip: Skip 1 feeding shortly before the flight so that the bird has an incentive to take off and search for food on its own.

It is advisable to release the grown swift in a place where flocks of relatives are circling so that he can join one of them.

17.7.2017, 22:17

Swift, lying on the pavement 07/15/2017. I feed only maggots and water (which is not recommended to feed swifts).
Appears to be 23 days old, weight 34 grams.

In Veliky Novgorod, is it possible to find shops where you can buy brownie or banana crickets, or ant pupae?

Someone will be able to take him, because it is hard to feed him in 2 hands, he does not want to eat himself.

girlfriend_afoni

18.7.2017, 10:35

And if you take it to where you found it and plant it next to a tree branch, maybe it's just a fledgling?

18.7.2017, 11:04

Strizh is an exception)
All that is possible and necessary has already been read about swifts. Swifts very rarely fall to the ground, because they do not always succeed in taking off.

girlfriend_afoni

18.7.2017, 11:43

So it's understandable, but maybe it's a fledgling that was sitting on a tree and fell

18.7.2017, 11:54

I suppose if you find the tree where he was found and put him on it, then at that very moment the haircut will try to jump to the ground, having received injuries, and he has nothing to do on the ground.
With the nest will come out similarly.
Only if someone doesn't find him again.

girlfriend_afoni

18.7.2017, 13:20

Well, here you have to google what haircuts do at that age

18.7.2017, 13:42

I’ve already googled everything, grow it for another ~20 days, after that it will be ready to fly away, but you need to feed it correctly (i.e. recommended insects for swifts), otherwise feathers will fall out or even worse.
If you let him go, it means let him die, and it didn’t matter whether he picked him up from the asphalt or not (swifts should not be on the ground).

Now I will go around a couple more pet stores, but I’m unlikely to find the right insects.

I wrote here with 2 questions, where to buy crickets and ant pupae.
And maybe someone has experience in our city in overexposure of swifts.

For with the diet that I feed the sheared women will not live long, and it is difficult to feed (to fix the beak), he does not eat.

18.7.2017, 15:39

I went around 4 pet stores, no, and they say that I’m unlikely to find it. Somewhere advised to order from Peter.
The swift has become less active, often sleeping.

girlfriend_afoni

18.7.2017, 15:50

Try to ask this person, he knows everything about birds, maybe he will tell you where to get it or some other way out
https://vk.com/id7337862

Another option is to buy maggots in a fishing store, grind or cut. You can also remove flies from maggots - also a good food.
And in fishing stores, mealworms can be sold.

And to kill hunger - give low-fat cottage cheese for now (real only)

18.7.2017, 16:25

Thank you very much, I'll ask.
I'm trying to get flies out of maggots, and it takes ~ 8 days for this.
Meal worms are a good option, it remains to find where to buy.
Fat-free cottage cheese, you can try to kill hunger, but almost everywhere they write that only insects.

And so the swift of some maggots does not digest, and so they "crawl out" (I break and kill so that they do not move in the stomach).
And at home it's cold for him, he put a warm bottle.

18.7.2017, 16:40

Still preferred as food for insectivorous birds "meal worms", flour beetle larvae (tenebrio molitor), which can be bought at any pet store.

But I must warn you not to feed these worms in large quantities and for a long period of time (more than 2-3 days). Their chitin contains substances that eventually cause serious intoxication of the liver and kidneys. Mealworms are also poorly balanced food, leading to deficiencies and skeletal damage.

When fed solely on mealworms, songbirds develop chronic eye infections that can lead to vision loss and head ulcers, inflammatory swelling of the feet, especially joints, and abscesses.

Mealworms - but only the lightest and softest, freshly molted - can be given to insectivorous birds as a supplement in very limited amounts (i.e. no more than 4-5 per day) or in an emergency for a very short time, two or three days, if it is impossible to immediately acquire crickets.

fly larvae, sold in fishing stores as "white maggot", is completely unsuitable for feeding insectivorous birds.

The chitin of the larvae resembles hard rubber, and the bird's stomach is not able to destroy them, so they come out with excrement almost undigested.
Fly larvae are unacceptable as food even if they are pricked before feeding, as they have a very high fat content, which means an extremely unbalanced diet.

Swifts reared on fly larvae are generally extremely thin and show deficiency symptoms as well as fatal feather defects. Usually these are small, barely noticeable areas of the fan with increased fragility (as if the fan was not completely cut through with a sharp blade), the fly feather breaks in this place at the slightest load.

In short, I kill a bird with such food

18.7.2017, 16:53

Well, is an anthill something - a problem to find?

18.7.2017, 17:23

I can look at the expense of ant pupae, but only at the exit.

I watched the swifts from the balcony as they hunt ordinary mosquitoes. Maybe take a net, catch and feed them?

18.7.2017, 17:41

Mistake 3. Feed the swift with maggots or bloodworms.

Swifts are insectivorous birds. But they are categorically not suitable for maggots and bloodworms, as well as earthworms, beetles, wasps, spiders, caddis flies, and so on.
Maggot is a worm with a very tough skin that is not digested in the stomach of the swift, causes blockage of the intestines, and the swift dies. Even if you cut the maggot into pieces, the risk still remains. In addition, maggot is very fatty and will quickly plant the liver of a swift.
Bloodworm is a low-calorie and contaminated food. Consists of almost nothing but water. You will never feed a swift with a bloodworm if you only feed it to him in kilograms. And the swift will quickly pick up helminths and some kind of infection from the bloodworm. The same goes for earthworms.
Swifts have a very delicate esophagus and stomach; only soft food is digested. In nature, swifts eat flies, moths, mosquitoes.

Mistake 4. Feed the swift with mosquitoes and flies.

People give 4-5 flies or mosquitoes a day (as many as they could catch), and they think that they have fed the swift.
Flies are indeed the natural food of swifts, but a swift in flight eats about 300-400 of them per day. In general, birds actually eat a lot: every day, any bird should eat food = 1/3 of its own weight in volume. That is, a swift with a weight norm of 45 grams should eat 15 grams of food per day. If the swift eats less, he begins to become exhausted, and in a week he dies.

Well, along with the flies, I'm now trying to get the mosquitoes out. And I can't catch a lot of mosquitoes.

Mistake 5. Instead of insects, give swifts "substitutes": cottage cheese, egg, beef.

All these products, which are successfully used in feeding chicks of other species - corvids, passerines, etc. - absolutely not suitable for haircuts. All of them cause metabolic disorders, in swifts the liver and kidneys fail over time, calcium deposition in the tissues begins. The chicks grow crooked feathers, which eventually fall out. The tail of those fed with eggs and cottage cheese is sheared - overgrown, and the wings, on the contrary, are short, undergrown. Such chicks are no longer able to fly, and remain at home for permanent residence.

girlfriend_afoni

18.7.2017, 17:42

If tomorrow we go to the dacha in the evening, I can shake the anthills, there are a lot of them, I’ll bring them on Thurs in the morning. If the bird survives...
Interestingly, but chicks should be given water, adult birds drink

It’s clear about the food above, but everything is better than starving completely, while there is no alternative

Swifts are perhaps the most common suborder of birds on Earth. Its representatives can be found in almost all countries and on all continents (except, perhaps, Antarctica). In total, ornithologists count about eight dozen species of swifts. Four representatives of the swifts live in Russia; one of them is the black swift, also known as the tower, because of the love of high spiers and the almost complete absence of the need to descend to the "sinful earth". This bird, amazing in many respects, is worthy of a detailed discussion.

What does a bird look like

Black Swift (Latin name Apus apus) - a bird of very small size, about the same as an ordinary sparrow. At the same time, visually, it looks larger, rather resembling a starling in size, since it has wings that are much longer than those of a sparrow.

So, the body length of our "hero" is 160-170 mm (for a sparrow, for comparison, 150-180), and the wing length is 165-180 mm, in a span of 420-480 mm (for a sparrow, at least two times less).

The weight of a bird is on average from 30 to 50 g (a sparrow weighs a maximum of 40 g, a starling - about 75 g).

The shape of the tail is the same as that of a swallow, with a notch in the shape of the Latin letter "V", the length of the tail is about 80 mm. In general, it should be noted that the external similarity between the swift and the swallow is significant - watching birds in the sky, they can easily be confused. A characteristic difference is the length and shape of the wing (in the swift it is longer and has a characteristic sickle-shaped bend).

The build of Apus apus is dense, the head is large, slightly flattened, and a short wide beak with a very large mouth is also flattened along the horizontal plane (this shape provides the bird with the ability to easily capture tiny insects that fill the air, just like huge whales suck small plankton into themselves ).
The bird's legs are strong, but very small, which is not surprising, because for its "intended purpose" (for walking on the ground), this "celestial" practically does not use them. But the fingers have sharp, forward-curved claws, which provide their owner with excellent tenacity and allow them to hold well even on vertical supports (rocks, walls, etc.).

Did you know? The Latin name of the bird "apus" comes from the ancient Greek "ἄπους", which means "legless". Almost all members of the detachment are so helpless on the ground that they are not even able to take off due to too long wings compared to short legs. The black swift is the only exception: this bird can make a jump from the ground, and once in the air, it manages to spread its wings.

The structure of the bird's eyes is specific: the lower eyelids are covered with dense plumage, which protects the organs of vision from air currents and collisions with small dust particles or insects, which, given the flight speed of these birds, is very relevant.

The main color is black with a brown-green tint, there is a white mark only on the throat. In young individuals, feathers have lighter endings, primarily on the wings and on the forehead.

A distinctive feature of all swifts is a very loud, piercing cry, similar to chirping.

The main habitat of tower swifts is the territory of Europe, including Ukraine, as well as the northern and central parts of Asia (from Transbaikalia in the east to Israel, Palestine and Syria in the west, from the steppe, forest-steppe and partially forest zone of Siberia, up to the border with the tundra in the north , to the Himalayas in the south) and northern Africa.
Although we are talking about a heat-loving bird, in summer it can fly quite far to the north, not only into the tundra, but even further, up to the Arctic coast.

So, in the states of Western Europe, the northern boundary of habitat this representative birds is limited to seventy degrees north latitude, in Siberia this border runs somewhat to the south - approximately at the level of 66-60 ° north latitude, and in the Urals corresponds to 60 ° north latitude.

These intrepid travelers go to Africa and Southeast Asia (mostly to India, but sometimes to Thailand) for "winter apartments".

The capture by humans of the natural habitat of swifts has led to the fact that today the bird can be found more often in cities than in the “full-fledged” wild nature (perhaps, only in Denmark and Finland, black swifts choose both urban and forest forms of existence).

hallmark of all swifts is their speed. The Apus apus we are considering is capable of accelerating in the air up to 111 km / h and this, by the way, is not the limit (the needle-tailed relatives of the black swift develop a speed of 170-180 km / h). For comparison: the same swallows fly no more than 60 km per hour.
It is interesting that swifts fly not only quickly (without slowing down even before approaching the nest), but also for a long time. This amazing bird has the ability to even sleep in the sky, catching the rising air current and only from time to time slightly shaking its wings right in a dream.

Did you know? The fastest bird in the world is the peregrine falcon (a kind of falcon). Its limit is 300 km/h. But we are talking about the speed of diving, that is, moving from top to bottom, while the peregrine falcon makes a horizontal flight no faster than at the level of 100 km / h, so in this sense the needle-tailed swift is an absolute record holder!

It is said that the tower swift can spend years in the sky, resting, feeding and even mating on the fly. In fact, this information is somewhat exaggerated, although the reality is really impressive.

So, Swedish scientists (University of Lund) installed special sensors for several dozen birds, and a few years later, having caught 19 individuals from control group, analyzed the information received and published the results of the experiment in the journal Current Biology (Modern Biology).
It turns out that during the year, black swifts behave like any birds during the nesting period for two months, but the rest of the time they spend no more than 1% of the time outside the flight.

Going to warmer climes in August, the next time the birds can touch the ground only after ten months, having already returned to their homeland, while some individuals sometimes sit on tree branches during wintering, but, in principle, they do not feel much need for this.

Did you know? Scientists have calculated that a tower swift during its life can cover a distance equal to seven flights to the moon (meaning the road in both directions)!

Oddly enough, such a complex life of a black swift in terms of energy costs is not so short. On average, birds live from seven to ten years, but there are cases when individual individuals reached the “honorary” age of 20 (the recorded record is 21 years).

As it was said, there is a period in the life of a black swift when the bird needs to temporarily say goodbye to the usual love for the sky. This is the breeding season.

Having returned from wintering in late April - early May, the birds begin their mating season: they look out for a partner, "establish relations" with him, collect material for building a nest, and finally perform the "act of love" itself (note that all this is still happening in flight!).

For the nest, everything that is in direct accessibility is used: feathers, fluff, blades of grass, small twigs, straw, leaves, threads, hair, wool, pieces of fabric, etc.
The bird glues the “building materials” selected in this way with its own saliva (an excellent glue that instantly seizes in the air no worse than cement), eventually constructing a kind of round bowl with low (no more than 1 cm) sides.

Important! In the wild, black swifts lived on high rocks, therefore, having become "city dwellers", these birds retained their addiction to heights. If there is such an opportunity, the bird will gladly build a nest at a level of 2000 meters above ground level!

The initially built nest is not very large, its diameter usually does not exceed 9 cm with a tray up to 5 cm, however, in the process of refurbishment and renovation, the “house” can grow to more impressive sizes: up to 15 cm in total diameter with a tray width of 7-8 cm, with a side height of 2-3 cm.

The tower swift, justifying its name, chooses the upper parts of buildings - roofs, places under cornices, crevices, window trims, and in the wild - tree branches, sometimes hollows, as a place for arranging a nest.

Black Swifts are very careful when choosing a place to build a nest, managing to disguise it in such a way that it is possible to find a shelter only when an adult bird appears nearby.

By the end of May, the female lays eggs in a freshly built dwelling (usually no more than two), 26 x 16 mm in size, white and elongated. The task of the female during this period is to incubate the eggs, the task of the male is to obtain food for both (however, some scientists argue that the birds incubate the eggs in turn).
The birth of chicks usually occurs in early June (hatching lasts three weeks). The young are born without plumage and are completely helpless in the first days, but after a few days the body of the chicks is covered with the first gray fluff.

Important! The black swift, like other birds, is warm-blooded. But still, he has the unique ability to greatly change body temperature depending on conditions. external environment, which allows not only chicks, but also adults to fall into a kind of hibernation in especially cold weather- as a result, the need for energy decreases, and the bird gets the opportunity to survive.

Parents feed their cubs for six weeks. Small insects are used as “baby food”, which, with the help of the same miraculous saliva, stick together into small lumps-briquettes. This allows you to deliver from four hundred to one and a half thousand insects at a time to the nest.

During the day, a bird can bring food to the nest 30-40 times, but it happens that you have to fly far for prey. It is interesting that cubs can do without parental care for quite a long time, falling into a kind of suspended animation, accompanied by a decrease in body temperature and slowing down of breathing.

Having held out on the “old stocks” for a week, the kids, upon the return of their parents, very quickly make up for lost time due to active nutrition.
The innate activity of a small bird leads to the fact that in early age chicks very often fall out of the nest, especially often this happens during rain. It is almost impossible to feed such a cub (due to the specifics of the diet), therefore, if there is such a possibility, it is best to return the surviving after the fall of the “prodigal” chick to the nest (the myth that parents will not accept it because of the presence of a “human” smell is not has nothing to do with reality).

Did you know? For several years in a row, in Jerusalem, at the beginning of March, a kind of holiday has been held, dedicated to the meeting of local tower swifts, returning from wintering to the Wailing Wall and building their nests on it.

Having barely learned to fly, the chicks leave the nest and begin an independent life. In August, they head south with the whole flock, but do not return with adults next spring, remaining in warm regions for 2-3 years, until they reach sexual maturity. But, having returned to their homeland for the first time, they immediately acquire their own offspring.

The black swift is a flocking bird, this applies to both travel and nesting. Usually the number of individuals in the community is several hundred.

Another amazing feature of black swifts is called the word "philopatry" (literally - love for the motherland). These birds always return exactly to the place from which they flew away.

Apus apus feeds exclusively on insects (“air plankton”), which the bird catches right on the fly, using its wide beak like a net.

Midges, insects, mosquitoes and flies act as food, but a small predator can also feast on larger prey - butterflies, beetles, spiders, gadflies and other representatives of the world of entomology.

As you know, birds are excellent helpers for humans in the fight against insects harmful to crops, but sometimes they themselves can cause considerable harm to a garden or vegetable garden.

Did you know?In some eastern countries (China, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and others), even bird nests built from the edible saliva of swifts are used for food - however, we are talking about a different kind of detachment, because black swifts do not nest in this region. But the love for such a delicacy (its cost can reach up to three thousand dollars) in the 70s of the last century led to the fact that in the Celestial Empire the population of unfortunate birds was almost completely exterminated.

Black swifts do not belong to either of these categories: vegetables, fruits and berries are not part of the diet of these birds, and the insects they eat are not agricultural pests (although swifts are definitely worth thanking for the extermination of mosquitoes and poplar moths).
Thus, a man and a swift could be neutral towards each other, but, unfortunately, the birds were not lucky.

People noticed that the meat of this bird (especially its chicks) is very tender and tasty, which is why the destruction of nests in some regions of Europe sometimes became widespread.

A bird that spends its entire life in the sky is completely unsuitable for life in captivity. Moreover, the appearance of the swift is not at all as colorful as that of parrots or canaries, and the voice is by no means a nightingale.

Therefore, when it comes to keeping a tower swift at home, it usually means an attempt to save the found creature (wounded or not yet able to fly), with the aim of subsequently returning it to freedom.

house for the swift

"Legsless" birds require a very special approach to housing. The swift cannot be kept in a cage, since this species of birds is not adapted either to walking on the ground, or even to sitting on a perch. In a cage, such a bird will very quickly receive irreparable injuries - broken feathers and wings.

For this reason, for a live find, it is necessary to equip a large box with sides at least twice the total length of the bird's body, including the tail. It is fundamentally important that, having spread its wings completely, the "tenant" does not touch the walls of his dwelling with them.
In order to avoid injuries, it is advisable to cover all the walls of the box with soft material, while not forgetting to make several holes in them so that the pet does not suffocate (the house must be covered from above, otherwise the bird will try to get out, which means it may suffer).

As a bedding, any moisture-absorbing material from what is sold in pet stores is suitable, but you can get by with ordinary napkins.

Important! The less lighting in the box, the calmer its occupant will endure temporary captivity.

The box should be placed in a dark place so that at the moment when the lid opens, the bird is not frightened and does not injure itself. It is possible, although not necessary, to build a shelter made of soft material inside the box, where the pet can crawl in search of safety.

Temperature environment should fluctuate between 25-35 ° C, although swifts tolerate cold and heat well, but a draft can greatly harm them. The best option is if the heat source will be under the bottom of the box, and not on the side or top.

To feed a swift, it is not necessary to run around the fields, waving a net (although this is also an option). Some pet stores sell special food for insectivorous birds. It is not very cheap, but we are talking about a rescue operation!
It is important to know that swifts, unlike swallows, do not immediately react to improper feeding. But this does not make the consequences less tragic: first of all, the bird begins to lose its flight feathers, and for a creature that spends its whole life in the sky, this is tantamount to a death sentence.

Mistakes in food selection also lead to irreversible damage to the liver, the entire digestive system, and even the skeleton.

If the problem with the extraction of insects cannot be solved, you can try to find an alternative: use low-fat baby meat puree, low-fat cottage cheese and dry fish food like Daphnia Magna.

All this is dried, mixed in equal proportions with the addition of a tablet of calcium gluconate crushed into powder, and little by little fed to the “sufferer”. But any insect that you managed to get close to - use it!
The food should not be cold; it is even better if it is slightly warmed up. The optimal amount of food for a small bird at a time is approximately the volume of one pea.

Important! Chicks should be fed every one and a half to two hours (except at night), for an adult bird three times a day is enough.

• minced meat (the most common mistake);
• flour worms;
• white maggots (fly larvae);
• earthworms;
• dry food for cats or dogs (especially canned food);
• eggs.

When the bird gets stronger, it should be prepared for the solemn moment of returning to freedom, reducing the amount of food to normalize weight.

It is best to release the swift in the evening, choosing a fine day for this. It is advisable to get out into an open place, ideally on a hill - but beware of tall grass, so it will be easier for you to find your pet in case of failure.
They take the bird in an outstretched hand, raise it higher and open the palm, giving the feathered the opportunity to make a decision on their own. If this does not happen, gently toss the swift, but if the first attempt ends in a fall, postpone the event for a couple of days.

The black swift is an amazing bird whose whole life is connected with the sky, speed and long distances. It is impossible to keep such a pet in captivity, the only exception can be attempts to save the life of a wounded or fragile bird, which is temporarily unable to fly normally. But this task is difficult, and not everyone can successfully solve it and not always.

We bring to your attention one of the methods of feeding swifts, which has been practiced by St. Petersburg ornithologists for many years.

1. What to do if a chick fell out of the nest fell into your hands?

You can distinguish a nestling by a light “scaly” pattern on the brown plumage of the head and wings, by short feathers of the wings and tail, the bases of which seem to “sit” in bluish tubes. After a day or two, the shearling will begin to open its beak at the sight of tweezers with food and wait for the nurse to appear. You need to feed him 5 - 7 times a day (once every 2-3 hours, a night break of about 7 hours) with a "swift" mixture.

Composition of mixture 1: lean beef meat, boiled chicken egg, grated on a fine grater, ant pupae (“ant egg”), flour worms (they can be chopped with scissors). Meal worms can be replaced with insects caught in nature, or bloodworms (only fresh!), Or maggots (scalded).

Composition of mixture 2:(for a long-term maintenance of a swift, the composition of the feed should be more diverse). lean raw ground beef - 20%, hard boiled chicken egg (chopped on a grater) - 25%, cottage cheese (non-acidic, better boiled and squeezed) - 20%, flour worms or ant pupae - 20%, carrots (grated on a fine grater) – 10%, infant formula – 5%

Composition of mixture 3: minced beef heart - 30%, hard-boiled chicken egg (chopped) - 25%, cottage cheese - 15%, carrots (grated on a fine grater) - 15%, insects (meal worms, crickets, etc.) - 10%, children nutrient mixture - 5%.

(These mixtures are also suitable for rearing nightjars)

The mixture is made into pea-sized balls and fed 4 to 5 balls per feeding. You can water the chick with a pipette or simply moisten the feed balls with water when feeding.

Keep the chick well in cardboard box from under shoes, at the bottom of which paper is laid and sawdust is poured. Sawdust should be changed every two or three days. From above, the box must be covered with a lid, but holes should be made in the walls and lid for ventilation. In such a box, the shearling sits calmly, since these conditions imitate his natural nest quite well. It is easy to carry a box with you if you need to be away from home for more than two or three hours, and you can feed the swift on the road and at work.

The shearling eats and grows, and finally its wings become long, like those of an adult, the "tubes" almost disappear, and the bird begins to behave restlessly - flaps its wings, refuses to eat: the chick is preparing to fly. After making sure that he wants to fly irresistibly, you go with him to the window or to the balcony, preferably where there is a large space in front of the house and where other swifts fly, and easily throw your swift into the air. Your pet will fall off your hand and fly into its element, for which, in fact, you raised it. But just in case, make sure that the lion does not accidentally fall somewhere on the ground.

2. What to do if you got an adult swift.

The adult swift is a dark brown bird with long wings, longer than the tail, with a light spot on the throat under the beak.

An adult swift should be kept in a cage with an open top (large box, aquarium), sheathed with dense material from the inside. The cage is cleaned from above. You can put cloth inclined "curtains" in the cage. Clinging to the matter, the swift will sit on the wall, it will not damage the plumage, and it will be possible to release it after recovery. Temporarily it is possible, in principle, to overexpose the swift on the curtain, but you need a curtain such that it would not be a pity to get it dirty. In this case, another “curtain” is attached to a curtain made of another fabric, under which the swift could crawl, as if into a shelter. But be careful, not all swifts sit on the curtain, they may tend to fly to the floor and run under the table / closet / bed etc.

To feed an adult swift, the owner of the bird will have to push the lumps of food directly into the throat - with tweezers or just a finger.

In most cases, you have to force-feed the bird. Put the swift on the table. With one hand (left hand), hold the bird behind its back, preventing the wings from opening, and at the same time, with the index and thumb (of the same hand!) Slightly press on the corners of the bird's jaws (they are right under its eyes) - this will make the bird open its beak. With the other hand, open the swift's mouth wider and push a lump of food into it - as deep as possible, behind the tongue, otherwise the bird will try to spit out the food. After a while, if the swift understands that its food consists of the offered lumps, it will begin to grab the food from the tweezers, and this will greatly facilitate the feeding process.

After 5 - 7 days, swifts with light bruises, as well as birds that were found in a state of hungry stupor, will recover, and they can be released into the wild.

You need to release the swift on a warm sunny day, when there are a lot of insects in the air. For release, it is better to choose a place where swifts fly. The bird needs to be thrown as high as possible into the air and make sure that the lion does not descend to the ground. As a rule, the swift cannot take off from the ground.

If the found swift has a broken wing, and there is no hope for a full recovery, it is more humane to euthanize this unfortunate bird. But if it is nevertheless decided to keep it at home, then you will have to specially equip the cage, make a box for breeding flour worms and be patient.

3. What if you want to keep a non-flying swift?

The minimum cage for keeping a black swift should be 60x60 cm in size at the base and 70 cm in height. The cage will be serviced from above, so the entire top of it must be open. From the inside, on three sides of the cage, removable walls made of dense fabric are suspended. Swift, clinging with claws, will climb these walls or, having hooked, rest.

As the fabric walls get dirty, they will have to be removed for washing, so there should be two sets of curtains. At the bottom of the cage, you also need to put something soft, pour sawdust or put napkins, since at first, trying to take off, the swift will fall to the bottom of the cage, and the litter will soften the blow.

For sleep and rest, you need to make a hanging house, 15x10 cm in size at the base and about 8 cm high. The front wall of the house is made half closed. The top cover must be removable. This will make it easier to wash and change the bedding. On the walls of the cage you need to hang 2-3 small feeders. By putting live flour worms or crickets in hanging feeders, you can teach the swift to take food on its own. At first, you will have to feed the bird with tweezers with a “swift” mixture or a mixture intended for feeding nightjars.

One Leningrad bird lover kept two swifts with damaged wings at home under the conditions described above. One of the swifts lived with her for 2 years, the second - 4. In nature, according to ringing, the average life expectancy of a black swift is a little more than 4 years. However, some individuals live up to 15 - 20 years.

Taking as a basis the method of keeping swifts described above, it is possible to create even more comfortable conditions and accustom to eat independently from feeders suspended on the walls of the cage.

Hilde Matthes volunteered at the Black Swift Rescue Center in Frankfurt am Main with the support of the German Black Swift Society, where she nursed hundreds of swift chicks over several years. Today she works as a private person and every year, in July-August, she helps raise about 35 chicks, helping them to get stronger and fly away.

Feeding chicks of black swifts ( Apus apus)

The black swift is one of the most difficult species for successful nursing. This is not an easy job for amateur beginners, so it will be best for the swift if you find a specialist who can handle this task. If this is not possible, then below are detailed explanations of what needs to be done in order to safely raise a bird.

Where to keep a swift chick?

Swifts should never be kept in bird cages because they will panic, fight and damage their plumage. If long flight feathers are damaged, swifts are not able to fly. It is best to keep the chick in a semi-open plastic box measuring at least 30 cm long, 20 cm wide and 15 cm high. It is very important to maintain cleanliness so that the shearers exercise their wings; it is necessary by all means to avoid contamination of feathers with droppings. Therefore, the bottom of the box should be lined with absorbent paper towels. Litter can be covered with pieces of toilet paper, but the box must be cleaned daily. I put in a light-protected corner of the box a "nest" made of wood or cork. If this is not possible, then a glass vase will do, but it should be wrapped in cloth so that the chicks do not lose heat.

If the chick is alone, he will just sit quietly in the nest. But if there are two or more chicks in the nest, they clean each other's feathers, while you can hear how they make quiet "purring" inviting sounds. After feeding, these sounds sometimes subside for a while, but, when hungry, the chicks begin to make them again, at first quietly, and then with increasing force. When the time comes for the chicks to fly, they stop making typical nesting sounds.

Black Swifts in the nest often pick each other's feathers, especially on the head and throat, which leads to a calming state. By feeding the chicks, I try to imitate this behavior. A gentle pat on the throat can calm an agitated swift and establish trust between the bird and its caretaker.

A soft stroke on the throat calms the swift. Photo: G. Kaiser

Feeding

Black swifts are exclusively insectivorous birds. Adult birds feed the chicks several times a day with compressed wads of food, consisting of various types of insects caught on the fly. I try to stick to the natural situation as much as possible and feed the chicks seven times a day with suitable ingredients from several types of insects.

I make the following mixture (these amounts are for 3 to 6 week old chicks):

2 or 3 house crickets (1-2 cm long)

3 or 4 drones

- ½ wax moth larvae

A few fly larvae (fishing bait)

flies

1/8 teaspoon dried insects (not treated with vegetable oil)

1 vitamin capsule "Beo-pearl" (Brand-name of the German company "Vitakraft").

This product is sold in the United Kingdom under the name "Beo Special". It can also be purchased in other European countries. If it is not available to you, you just need to exclude it from the formula for feeding.

Once a day: vitamins and calcium supplements.

You can not feed swifts with bread, grains, flour or earthworms. These products are completely unsuitable and may result in death or malformation of feathers, rendering the bird unable to fly normally.

Crickets and wax moth larvae can be purchased from specialty pet stores or by ordering delivery from online retailers such as Livefoods Direct Co.Uk. Drones can be purchased from beekeepers (try your local beekeepers association). Fly larvae are sold in specialized stores with goods for fishing. The larvae can be placed in a warm place to breed flies, which can be frozen if necessary. Always keep enough food on hand.

Cooking

First, wash your hands thoroughly with a disinfectant detergent.

Food for each feeding should be freshly prepared. Beo-Pearl capsules should be soaked in water for 30-60 minutes.

Dried insects must be thoroughly cleaned: select and remove any dangerous foreign particles, such as stone fragments or twigs. Place the dried and cleaned insects along with the frozen insects and warm water, and when the feeding ingredients have reached room temperature, drain them on a sieve. Then place the ingredients on a plate. Food must have a good smell. If, for example, the cricket smells bad, then it is rotten and should be thrown away. Remove hard limbs from crickets before feeding. Grind fly larvae and use them as a binder for dried insects.

It doesn't matter if one or two ingredients are missing. Only crickets, flies and dried insects plus vitamin and calcium supplements guarantee success. If the dried insects have been soaked sufficiently, there is no need to add water.

To feed a swift, carefully wrap it with a napkin so that its plumage does not get greasy.

Feeding technique

Before feeding, I loosely wrap the chick in a paper towel and carefully hold the bird in my left hand. Precautions must be taken to avoid contamination of feathers with feed. Then I very carefully open the beak with the fingernail of my right hand and carefully insert the forefinger of my left hand into the side of the beak to keep it open. (See two photos below). All this must be done very carefully and carefully so as not to break or bend the fragile tissues of the beak. The beak of swifts is surprisingly fragile.

Carefully open the soft beak with the tip of the nail. Photo: Meierjürgen

Then, still carefully, I place a piece of food deep in the throat with blunt rounded tweezers (you can buy it at a pharmacy or ask your veterinarian). If the food is put in shallowly, then the chick can push it out or throw it out by shaking its head.

Carefully hold the beak open with your finger. Then, using medical tweezers with rounded tips, very carefully put the food deep into the throat. Photo: Meierjürgen

If the chick is very hungry, I give him extra food.

If the chick is helpless and exhausted, you need to start feeding very slowly. Start with one or two food items (such as flies or drones) and repeat the process after an hour. If necessary, continue to feed like this at night.

Then, very gradually, increase the swift's diet until it starts eating the normal food described above. Such difficult situations I add a drop of liquid (1/2 Amynin + 1/2 of water) to each meal using a medical syringe without a needle. (Note: Amynin is a nutrient protein solution).

If the chick is sucking on your finger, don't stop him, as this actually helps with feeding. This makes it much easier to give food that is readily swallowed.

Unless absolutely necessary, I do not deworm the chicks, trying to keep them in conditions as close to natural as possible.

Chick weight control

I record the weight of each chick daily. This provides me with the data I need to determine flight readiness, as well as information about bird health in general.

The chick develops well and is almost ready to fly if its weight is 50 g or even more within a few days. A few days before departure, the chick will refuse food and lose weight until it reaches 40-45 g, meaning that the chick is ready to fly.

Daily weighing is necessary to control the growth of the chick. Photo: Meierjürgen

In flight

Birds are ready to fly when their long wing feathers are completely cleared of light protective tubes. flight feathers should be about 16 cm long and extend at least 3.5 cm beyond the tail feathers. Swifts have no pre-flight practice. Having flown out of the nest, they simply fly and remain in the air for two years until they start nesting. However, the chicks strengthen their flight muscles by performing “push-ups”, pressing their wings to the floor and rising high above the surface.

I choose a good sized lawn or a freshly mown meadow to release my swifts. Then, if something goes wrong, the bird can be easily spotted. To "launch" the swifts need space and some elevation above the ground. Sufficient height is provided by a small ladder-ladder. I never forget to check for falcons or other birds of prey around. If they fly nearby predator birds, I wait until they leave the "launch" site.

I stand on the ladder, holding the swift in my open palm. It will take him some time to get his bearings. In most cases, the birds first relieve the intestines and then, after a couple of minutes, freely and confidently fly away. What great satisfaction gives the opportunity to see with your own eyes or through binoculars how it takes off into the sky! But if the bird crouched in your palm or backed up, then it is too early to release it. Take it back home and try to release it in a few days. Never throw a bird into the air!

This young swift is ready to fly. The feathers are fully grown, because. completely cleared of protective tubes. Photo: Meierjürgen

On the day of release, the weather should be clear and, if possible, dry for the next 2-3 days in a southerly direction, as the birds will head straight for Africa.

Fledglings of black swifts do not receive any help from their parents. From the very beginning, they are able to fly to perfection and achieve everything on their own.

Successful return

As a rule, nothing is known about the departed chicks of swifts, as the number of recorded returns of ringed birds is so small. So I was very happy when one of "my" swifts, reared in 2004, was registered in 2005 in Kronberg. All human-raised swifts wear a numbered ring, and this bird was noted by ornithologists while searching for a nesting site. The ring number confirmed that it was one of "my" chicks.

The fully fledged fledgling looked around, oriented itself, then spread its wings and flew away.

This happy return indicates that the feeding technique and diet have been completely successful. This is important because, as mentioned above, it is very difficult to feed and care for black swifts. Their feathers are easily deformed or even fall out if their nutrition is not adequate in any way. The return of this bird confirms that the recommended food mixture is correct and can be used with confidence.

Translation: Elena Minkova

This shows how to feed an adult swift; you can see how the swift resists, trying to pull in its head.

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=02js4857WH8

This clip shows a "light" chick. But many chicks behave like adults, i.e. are unwilling to take food, so they need to be fed with a gentle feeding technique.

When trying to feed a swift yourself, you will probably find that it is much more difficult to do it than the video shows! Be patient, calm and always very careful. Forcibly handling a bird will not make it interact better with you and may even cause it serious injury. In such cases, it is better for you and the bird to yield and hand it over to someone experienced in feeding and keeping the bird without causing the bird unnecessary suffering from inappropriate food, a broken beak, or damaged plumage.

Appendix to Gillian Vestry

Further information