Trivia question for Feb-23-2011

Olivia picked this unique bird for today’s trivia.  Lets see how everyone does with this one:

These guys have supposedly been clocked soaring at speeds up to 199-MPH but that was an unconfirmed reading.  The average speed is around 25-MPH during migrations and 14-MPH during feeding.  They spend most of their day in the air.  These guys are so acrobatic that they even mate while in the air and astoundingly can even sleep for short periods while 6,000-feet up in the air.

They travel as far south as South Africa in the winter to escape the brutal northerly weather but then quickly return to their home range, as weather gets better.  Some of these species actually use echolocation to find their way to nesting sites in caves.

These guys are hunted frequently while in their winter home and no one knows for sure how many there actually are in the world.  It is estimated that they currently do not need protection from any endangered species programs.  So here are Olivia’s questions:  Tell us what kind of bird this is and also tell us how many mates they typically have each season.

Good Luck 😉

Answer:

Congratulations to Ty, he guessed the bird we featured was a Swift and in fact it is a Eurasian Swift.  Swifts are the most aerial of birds. Larger species, such as White-throated Needletail, are amongst the fastest fliers in the animal kingdom. Even the Common Swift cruises at 5 to 14 metres per second (11–31 mph) and is capable of 60 metres per second (134 mph) for short bursts. In a single year the common swift can cover at least 200,000 km.

Swifts are known for staying with their mates for life.  Each year they make their long migration and still end up with the same mate year after year.  Here is more on the acrobatic flyers: Swifts

Thanks for playing along 😉