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This 1910 two-seater de luxe Swift Tourer was made at the Swift factory in the Cheylesmore area of Coventry. One of the owners of this 7hp single cylinder engined car named it ‘Lucinda’, the name is still painted on the bonnet.
Taken in Princeton, BC in May 2016.
The Vaux's Swift is a hard bird to photograph. I was happy to see some flying very low down with hundreds of swallows in Princeton last month, the best I have ever seen this species.
With overcast skies, the grass being cut around Wilstone res banks and a storm approaching I hadn't expected much. I had planned to photograph bees on the banks but the mowers put paid to that. What it did do was displace millions of insects which in turn bought in the Swift. The skies were alive with thousands of them all enjoying their feed. Despite the high numbers, it seems some individuals favoured particular patches of the sky. These two individuals, one with a little damage on its underside and the other with a scruffy wing I repeatedly managed to get shots of.
In my efforts to get a at least a vaguely crisp panning shot of a swift over the last few weeks, I had collected quite a few shots of them doing their amazing acrobatics as they zoomed across the sky to catch an insect meal. They were inevitably photographed at varying heights and distances, so many were just too small in frame to carry as a photographic composition. I thought I might montage lots of the better shots together on a single frame, so here they all are, showing off all their twists and turns. If you peer closely, you can see one bird was caught by the shutter just as he/she opened their beak to swallow an insect.
One of my last shots from the Narrows in Zion National Park. The crowds really thin out the deeper you go into the Narrows. I think this was about 3 miles in from the start of the Narrows. Finding compositions in the Narrows is a lot fun. This shot is one of my favorite water flow shots I've taken. Nice water curves wrapping around the rocks really makes this my favorite image from the Narrows. We didn't finish the the Narrows until 6 or 7pm, so the light was a lot darker and cooler than some of my earlier shots.
Narrows
Zion National Park, Utah
I just posted my summer timelapse project online. youtu.be/AIdznH2bYwA
The number of Swifts in the evening sky has dropped significantly over the last couple of nights so I guess that some of the Swifts have started to head south on their migration back to Africa. Unfortuately we didn't get the golden sunset when the Swift numbers were higher.
Dewlish, Dorset.
The Swift is a medium-sized aerial bird, which is a superb flyer. Sleeping, eating, bathing and even mating on the wing (while flying), Swifts rarely touch the ground. They are also the fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of 69mph. Swifts are plain sooty brown, with a white throat, but in flight against the sky they appear black. They have curved wings and a forked tail. Swifts are summer visitors, breeding across the UK, but are most numerous in the south and east. Spending their winters in Africa, Swifts migrate 3,400 miles twice a year, stopping off to refuel in places like Portugal and France along the way. (RSPB).
My thanks to anyone who clicks or comments on this photo. It is much appreciated.
During Swift Response 2023 exercise I was able to attend some practices at Bardenas Reales shooting range in Spain by USAF A10s. No real fire (not even BRRRRRRRT, because of the ammunition) but great flying demos, some of them for the media. A great day!
The cargo ship INDUSTRIAL SWIFT alongside in the port of Saint-Nazaire to load MAN motors. In the bottom right the liner MSC BELLISSIMA.
Le cargo INDUSTRIAL SWIFT à quai dans le port de Saint-Nazaire pour charger des moteurs MAN. Dans le fond à droite le paquebot MSC BELLISSIMA.
IMO: 9741152
MMSI: 636017393
Call Sign: D5KR7
Flag: Liberia [LR]
AIS Vessel Type: Cargo
Gross Tonnage: 11619
Deadweight: 12337 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 147m × 23m
Year Built: 2017
Status: Active
Flower Swift | Polytremis pellucida | Hesperiidae
Samsung NX1 & Helios 44M - 58mm f/2
10mm Macro Tube | f/4 | Manual Focus | Available Light | Handheld
Kunming | Yunnan Province | China
All Rights Reserved. © Nick Cowling 2017.
During Swift Response 2023 exercise I was able to attend some practices at Bardenas Reales shooting range in Spain by USAF A10s. No real fire (not even BRRRRRRRT, because of the ammunition) but great flying demos, some of them for the media. A great day!
The name Swift is highly appropriate as they hold the record for level flight speed under their own power (69.3 miles per hour). But this was during a turbo-charged screaming flight, whereas the usual flight speed was 22-26 mph. Other birds like Peregrine Falcons can reach much greater speeds but only when freefalling using the power of gravity. They fly around with their beaks open catching insects which they store in a ball to bring back to their youngsters in the nest. Analysis of just 12 food balls revealed more than 300 species of insect and spider. It is thought that each Swift may catch 10,000 insects in a day, which is more (numerically) than any other British bird.
The other interesting thing about Swifts is that once they leave their nest, their feet won't touch the ground for two or three years until they nest themselves. By this time the young Swift will have made two or three return journeys to sub-Saharan Africa. They eat, drink, sleep and even mate on the wing, only landing when they nest. The oldest known Swift was ringed as a nestling in Switzerland and was caught back there 21 years later, by which time it was estimated to have flown perhaps 3 million miles.
The scientific name Apus apus comes from the Greek " a pous" meaning without foot. Swift legs are so small that it was once believed that they did not have any feet. If a Swift gets grounded it cannot spring back into the air like all other birds with normal sized legs. Several times I have found grounded Swifts and have saved their lives by launching them back into the air. An immensely satisfying thing to do. I think you can just about see some of its tiny toes emerging from the plumage. And speaking of Swift toes, they have four toes pointing forwards which is known as pamprodactylous. Most birds have three toes forwards and a hind toe pointing back.
I photographed this newly arrived individual in Yorkshire at the weekend using 1/2000 exposure.
This immature Swift has been banging on the nest box to try to displace the resident adults. Shown here, it bumps its head, rights itself, flies away and returns for another go...
I had taken the 135mm f/1.8 lens with me to try to get photos of swallows feeding inside the barn. That allowed ridiculously fast shutter speed, but the crop was severe. Upscaled with Topaz Gigapixel.
The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry from 1900 until 1931. It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. This 1927 Swift, SF 7805, is seen at a lunchtime gathering at The Old Bull Inn, Inkberrow, on 23rd May 2021.
Swift 10/12 (1911) Engine1814 cc
SWIFT SET
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623847196238...
Shot at the aviva Classic, Silverstone 20.09.2009 ref. 47-188
Swift Parrot feeding in a flowering Yellow Gum at the base of Mt Ainslie in Canberra. A small flock of these endangered migratory parrots spent a few weeks in Canberra recently.
Common swift, Fortezza Medicea in Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Mauersegler, Fortezza Medicea in Siena, Toskana, Italien. Dort brüten sie zu Hunderten in der Mauer und sind von den Parkplätzen gut zu fotografieren.
Rondone
Apus apus
Swift Creek is a tributary of the Suwannee River near White Springs, FL. Its namesake is apparent to anyone who visits it, as its water frequently races down a deep (for Florida) limestone gorge into the Suwannee. I had visited this one less than a month before this shot when the water was much higher and the light was poor. I anticipated being able to photograph this one in a long exposure racing through its channel. What I didn't anticipate were the rapids that were revealed at low water in this creek, numerous ones in the last 100 yards before its confluence with the Suwannee and even more upstream. I even found a small spring flowing through the karst, pictures of which I will share later.
Photographed at El Mojon Spain
The Swift have returned again this year to their nesting areas underneath a roof slab in a partly constructed building in El Mojon, I have seen them at this location for the last three years, they are normally seen nesting there from mid June to early August. They are for sure difficult birds to photograph in flight, they fly so fast and are so unpredictable in flight.
I've had a few attempts at photographing swifts recently - none of my efforts are completely wonderful, but at least I got this one in the frame! D500_90222.NEF
It took a lot of shots to get one worth posting! These birds are FAST! Did you know their feet and legs are so tiny they can barely walk but in the air they are incredible.
The light was very low so I tried panning with the Swifts at Startops today. While the light was terrible, the birds were stunning. The reservoir was packed solid with swift and hirundine at all heights. It is amazing when they wiz past you and you can feel the air they move. The light made this one look very brown.