Swift webcam

53 replies
Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

A webcam in a swift's nest. Meet the birds that never land, except when on the nest. Once they fly out of the nest they will be on the wing for at least two years before they start breeding.
http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/6

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: VANCOUVER ISLAND - B.C. - CANADA
Joined: Feb 18 2006
User is online

thank have added to favourites

__________________
Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

Thanks Barry, they are on the nest now as it is night, lovley way to see them up close for once. Laughing out loud

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Arizona, US
Joined: Nov 15 2006
User offline. Last seen 1 year 44 weeks ago.

Wonderful!! Thanks Cerinthe! I will keep my eye on this one Eye-wink

__________________
Location: 8897 km from where I want to be
Joined: Feb 17 2006
User offline. Last seen 7 weeks 23 hours ago.

Awesome cam!
Thanks for posting the link. Laughing out loud

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

We don't often see them this close, just look at the length of the wings! As they crawl into small holes to nest they do get stuck sometimes with these long wings of them, fortunately it's only seldom that it happens.

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: OK, USA
Joined: Mar 14 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 weeks 2 days ago.

Fantastic cam!
Thanks for posting it Ceri Laughing out loud

__________________

Live simply ... Share ... Tread softly on the planet ...

Location: USA
Joined: Jan 13 2007
User offline. Last seen 2 years 1 week ago.

How terrific, thanks Ceri. You'll have to translate for me Smiling

__________________

Britney Smurf, aka Lady Hawke, aka Smalf A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.**Active Discussions**

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

smalldog wrote:
How terrific, thanks Ceri. You'll have to translate for me Smiling
Anytime, just ask Laughing out loud

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Arizona, US
Joined: Nov 15 2006
User offline. Last seen 1 year 44 weeks ago.

I keep flipping between the cams on that site (even though I can't read any of it Laughing out loud ) and saw this on the Peregrine cam. the little ones are so cute!!

looks like she found the camera! Laughing out loud Eye-wink

__________________
Location: San Francisco, Calif. USA
Joined: Oct 10 2006
User offline. Last seen 1 year 37 weeks ago.

Thanks Ceri for the link...it is truly amazing...and I can still read and understand Dutch, even after all these years Smiling Smiling ....so it makes it doubly fun for me Laughing out loud Laughing out loud
Johanna

Location: The Netherlands
Joined: Oct 28 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 days 5 hours ago.

Hi All,

This is my Family Eye-wink Coming back again after 9 month!!

They came back at the nest (the one I observe 5 years now) at 24th of April :!:
It is very early this year. Normaly we see and hear the first around 30th of April.
Here, in Amsterdam, we call them "the Queensday Bird" because it is a big celebration that day in the city. Mostly the screeming parties are then the sounds of joy, on a terras in the evening, after a long day partying Laughing out loud
Lots of work for me to do: finding nest, counting birds, protecting nests and also making sure new nest will be made in new buildings after the old ones are gone.

Thanks Cerinthe for putting the URL of this Webcam here!
Enjoy the cam with this, for me, very special bird :!: :!: :!:

Greetings
Swift

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

Good news on 10th May from a french swift mailing list.

Quote:
A huge amount of Swifts (Apus apus) flying over Cap Gris Nez and heading for Britain !
Nicolas Selosse counted 7.370 Swifts between 8:00 and 13:00 CET today, but there might have been at least 10.000 crossing the Channel.

On the 10th I was also amazed at the numbers of swifts wherever I went in town. Later when I read the lists I knew the big group has arrived. The sounds of summer is back :lol:

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: The Netherlands
Joined: Oct 28 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 days 5 hours ago.

8th June, 2 young Common Swifts hatched!!!!!

It was a hot day here and it ended with thunderstorms :shock:
You could hear it at the cam too.
Both parents were inside and looking after these little ones.
Before the thunderstorms many insects to find and the Swifts at my town were flying around with hundreds of them.
Nice sightings.
Parents will have food with them in a special place in the beak. Big balls with insect in saliva.
So they can feed the chicks little bits, while there is bad weather and no insects.

Greetings

Swift

direkt in WMP

Location: USA
Joined: Jan 13 2007
User offline. Last seen 2 years 1 week ago.

Thank you for the update. I had lost track of this wonderful cam while watching the Red Tailed Hawks fledge.

__________________

Britney Smurf, aka Lady Hawke, aka Smalf A little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.**Active Discussions**

Location: 8897 km from where I want to be
Joined: Feb 17 2006
User offline. Last seen 7 weeks 23 hours ago.

The parents aren't in the nest at the moment, so there is a good view of the chicks.

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

I've been watching them myself today, they start growing feathers. It's a bit amazing to watch all this new life starting.

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

All peace and calm in the swiftnest today :lol:

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

How do you keep them quiet? Like this maybe?

I'm so glad when I have such a good pic, because sometimes my pics end up like this .............. :shock:

They are so fast :lol:

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: UK
Joined: Feb 17 2006
User offline. Last seen 1 day 2 hours ago.

Ceri!..they are great pics :)

__________________

Study nature,love nature,stay close to nature. It will never fail you!           

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

Not a swift to be seen in the sky, due to this bad weather the younger swifts have all gone. The only swifts to be seen are those who have young on the nests.

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: The Netherlands
Joined: Oct 28 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 days 5 hours ago.

Well it is not all that good weather to show how to enjoy these birds in our summers.

The non breeders are not around and that makes it in a way silent.

Had to give excursions in my City, but could not share the joy because of there absence.

The breeding pairs are doing great, many moments still to find food in one day. So thats not that bad.

Waiting for some more nice summer weather with all the non breeders to joy our breeders. Giving us the summer feeling in their screeming parties in the morning and evening.

In this part of Europe the young will fledge between 15th and 30th of juli. 

Still enjoy every moment of the 3 month stay in our Europian Cities!!

Swift

 

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

Young birds or animals will always be cute.

looking out of the nest

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

Sticking it's head under it's sibling's wing

look at the foot

see what a tiny pointy beak

What cutie pies

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

This morning 19th July at aproximately 9:00am they left the nest, they flew out into the world and off to africa. You can see it at

http://www.beleefdelente.nl/vogel/6

There is also a video of them flying out of the nest. Go to the videos on the site and look for 19 Juli: jongen uitgevlogen

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: OK, USA
Joined: Mar 14 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 weeks 2 days ago.

Fly little birds fly!

Thanks Cerinthe, this has been lovely to follow  Smiling

__________________

Live simply ... Share ... Tread softly on the planet ...

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

These days many young swifts will fly out of their nests and after taking a good view of their surroundings they will fly off to africa, maybe even to South Africa.

It is not always easy for them to start their journey if you see what impossible holes the adult birds fly into to make a nest.

This afternoon I had to go into town, but I did not bother to put on my glasses. I don't see that bad and I had a headache. On my way back home I saw what I thought was a swift. I was not sure at all. That house was given up on a yahoo mailing list as a nesting place and I have looked before, but saw none of the telltales that it is indeed a broodhole.

Later, while I was on the phone with another swift friend, I told him about it and my intention to go back with my binoculars to see what was hanging onto that house.

We saw a young swift who in his adventure to go out of the nest into the world, got stuck. It was hanging with it's body out of the nest and it's wings still inside the hole. It's feet was cluthing in the air in it's struggle to get a balance or a hold onto something.

We didn't know what to do to help this little bird. The first idea was to ring the bell at the house and ask if we could try and free it from the top floor. But it would be terribly risky. This is a very nice and very high house. The nest must be about 11meters high at least. We then decided to phone the fire department and ask them if they can come out and help the swift. They did.

It was not easy to get the young swift out of this distressing position, but the fireman succeeded and a very stressed swift was given to my friend who knows all about swifts and who will look after it and release it soon as it is ready.

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Location: Leuven 33 km E of Brussels, Belgium
Joined: Oct 15 2005
User offline. Last seen 1 hour 58 min ago.

One more pic

__________________

What is the Magnificent 7? Who is ...? How do you ...?
Find the answers in the Africam Wiki
Can you help me ID these sounds?

Lea
africlub
Lea's picture
Location: USA
Joined: Apr 28 2007
User offline. Last seen 1 week 2 days ago.

This was a wonderful story Cerinthe.  I wish I had known eariler.  Thank You

__________________

 

Location: OK, USA
Joined: Mar 14 2006
User offline. Last seen 3 weeks 2 days ago.

Thanks Ceri, a lovely story with a good ending. I'm glad the swift was okay Smiling

__________________

Live simply ... Share ... Tread softly on the planet ...

Location: Belgium
Joined: Feb 18 2006
User offline. Last seen 4 hours 45 min ago.

cerinthe wrote:

We then decided to phone the fire department and ask them if they can come out and help the swift. They did.

A story with a great ending Smiling

for you & the Leuven fire-department for saving this cute swift !

thanks for posting and for the pics Cerinthe.

 

__________________

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Syndicate content