Martinet noir
One
of the real sounds of summer for me is the wild screaming of flocks of swifts
as they chase each other around the skies. This is another species that has
adapted it's cliff dwelling nature to human habitation, and now can be found
nesting most frequently beneath the roofs of tall, usually old buildings, like
chateaux, church towers or large farm buildings - hence Switzerland is a great place for swifts and
their sound a feature of many villages.
Their aerial displays are wonderful, a flock of up to 10 or 20 individuals will chase screaming crazily at each other - no one is really sure what is going here but it seems to happen about half an hour after their first feed of the morning, but mostly in an evening before going to roost. (these birds are so effective at flying that they will roost and even sleep on the wing). Their screams, and if you are close enough the noise of their wings, are amazing.
Here is a rather longish file of 4 separate sequences of birds at dawn flying around and around the farm buildings in which they nest, if you listen carefully, in addition to the characteristic screams you can hear their fluttering wings and also the buzzing vibration of the feathers as they pass at high speed.
