It is very busy in the care of bird rehabilitation center (VRC) Zundert. Currently, more than a hundred young common swifts are being taken care of and the number continues to rise. The reason: because of the heat of the past few weeks, the birds walk to the edge of their nest, looking for some cooling. Then they fall to the ground.
At the moment the VRC is taking up more than a hundred young swallows. That is not necessarily new, last year 180 Nest-Springers already arrived. “But it is the first time that the common swifts come so early in the year, and with so much at the same time,” says Latoya Siemons on behalf of the VRC.
Common swifts build their nests under the roof tiles and ridge. If the sun is on it, it can get very hot. Extremely high temperatures were measured last week. “Normally it only gets warm at the end of July, now it was already so hot at the end of June. So much came at the same time. We now have about 125 young swallows in the shelter. So there is a good chance that we will take care of more than 180 swallows this year.”
“The teenagers don’t like us and don’t just take food.”
Depending on their age, the young birds must be fed every one up to 2.5 hours. That happens by hand and is not that easy. “Common swifts don’t open their mouth when they are hungry. Other birds do.” They also accept food from a person a lot worse. “Especially the teenagers, they don’t like us and don’t just want to take food from us.” For comparison: conducting a hundred sparrows takes approximately thirty minutes. A hundred common swallows for about two hours.
“We actually need seven volunteers a day, there were two on Saturday.”
The young birds cost Latoya and her (voluntary) colleagues a lot of extra time. That time is scarce, especially during the holiday period. “In fact, we need seven volunteers a day to take care of all the animals. There were only two on Saturday. That in combination with the longer feeds makes it tough.”
Although the temperatures are a bit lower these days, the next tropical days are already coming. “We can’t really prepare for that,” she continues. “At most, take extra food. And we can prepare the stays if we know that the animal ambulance is coming to bring a lot.” Last Friday the animal ambulance came to bring 27 swallows in one go.
“They have to be on fitness before we can let them go again.”
As soon as the common swifts weigh around 45 grams, they are released again. “Then they fly immediately to Africa, because they hibernate there.” The common swift will never come to the ground again. “They do everything in the air, such as food and pairs. Only after three years do they come back to the Netherlands, where they make a nest in the ridge of a roof. So they have to be really good on fitness before we can let them go again.” The lightest bird in the shelter weighs approximately 17 grams. “So he has to stay for a while.”
Latoya calls on to put containers of water in the garden when the temperatures rise again. “Not just for the swift, but for all animals.”
A few years ago, around this time, the reception center had its hands full on sparrows that fell off the roof:
