Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba)
About the Alpine Swift
The alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalayas. Like common swifts, they are migratory; the southern European population winters further south in southern Africa. They have very short legs which are used for clinging to vertical surfaces. Like most swifts, they never settle voluntarily on the ground, spending most of their lives in the air living on the insects they catch in their beaks.
A real field recording of the Alpine Swift. Press play and focus on the rhythm and pitch of each phrase.
Listen
Our streaming copies are mirrored from the original xeno-canto file and transcoded to 96 kbps mono — a modification, so we note it here; the licence for each recording is named in its credit below.
1 recording on this page · licensed CC BY-SA ×1 · mirrored on this server, free for commercial reuse · recorded in Algeria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany and elsewhere · xeno-canto lists 289 recordings for this species in total.
Similar species
- Mottled SwiftTachymarptis aequatorialisprofile
Species grouped by shared genus, family and range.