CAnMove

The common swift (Apus apus) is one of the most charismatic and admired birds in the world. It lives its life on the wings and returns to exactly the same nesting location every year. Although the common swift is occurring throughout all of Sweden, its migration and winter habitats in tropical Africa south of Sahara, are still unknown to us due to lack of ringing recoveries. By combining new technology, e.g light loggers adapted for small birds, with analyses of stable isotopes in the bird’s feathers, we hope to find out more about the Swedish commons swifts’ migratory strategies, migration routes, time of migration and winter destinations in Africa. Moreover, we want to compare the migratory behavior of various European colonies of common swifts, stretching from Italy in the south to northern Sweden, to find out how different populations are adapted to migration in terms of breeding time, migratory speed, choice of route and choice of winter habitats.
Follow the life in one of the swift nest boxes in the Ecology house, HERE.
 
This project is financed by research grants to Susanne Åkesson from Tryggers Stiftelse, The Swedish Research Council Formas, the Swedish Research Council, and with support from CAnMove.