Swifts by name, swift by nature

At the beginning of June last year, we posted some photographs of Pallid Swifts that we had taken here in the centre of Tavira. This morning we went into the town for another session with these remarkable birds.

If any family of birds is appropriately named, it's the Apodidae, the swifts. Having upgraded to a Canon EOS 50D since last year we felt better equipped to try and get some flight shots but still found it incredibly difficult; the speed of these birds is simply amazing and their line of flight often completely unpredictable.


Pallid Swifts usually nest under the eaves of buildings or in a hole in a wall; sometimes they will use a cave or a cliff crevice. Birds of the Western Paleacrtic lists only two instances of them nesting in holes in palm trees: in Algeria and in Portugal. The Portuguese reference is to 'our birds' in Tavira.



We were a month later than last year and this morning there was a frenzy of activity as uncountable numbers of birds were feeding young in the nests.

Pallid Swifts

Tavira, our base in the Eastern Algarve, is one of the few places where Pallid Swifts have been reported nesting in palm trees. This is not new behaviour but it does seem to be unusual. We have tried photographing them in previous years and we had an hour with them again yesterday. The trees are right in the centre of the town, close to the old market. The speed at which they come and go makes counting them very difficult but maybe as many as 50 pairs could be present.