Do's
1. Empathy - use it!
Birds feel pain, panic and fear just as we do.
The welfare of the birds must always come first.
- Always support their breeding efforts. Swifts' welfare and survival have to be more important than any scientific results that may be gained from the ringing exercise.
- Only ring pulli (chicks) between 10 to 14 days after hatching, and only then in their nest boxes while the parents are away. This may be done in monitored and accessible colonies where the nest boxes have internal doors. The work is best performed from inside a building (so the adult birds don't see what is going on) using nest boxes where the exit hole can be closed briefly to stop birds getting in or out.
- Nets can be used to trap Swifts while they are on their return migration, but not while they are incoming or breeding.
- Ringing Swifts requires considerable expertise; it follows that trainee ringers should only ring Swifts under personal guidance from a fully qualified ringer experienced in ringing Swifts.
- Use only the correct BTO specified rings for Swifts - see illustration below. The type description is "So" ("Special overlap") and they are designed in such a way that the internal diameter, when fitted, can range from 2.5 - 4.0 mm depending on the species.
When ringing Swifts the inner diameter of the closed ring should be 3.5 mm.
Don'ts
1. Do not trap and ring Swifts arriving from migration, or in the period of nesting.
They are desperate to breed and may be carrying eggs (Swifts mate in the air and may be arrying eggs at any time during and after arrival in the UK). Swifts carrying eggs are high ulnerable to having those eggs crushed in the oviduct by handling, an event which wi usually be fatal.
- Never trap adult Swifts inside their nest place. There is a very high risk that they will desert it.
- Never attempt to ring Swifts breeding in natural or "wild" colonies, for example in ancient buildings or cliffs. The risk of causing injury within such difficult environments is far too high.
- Do not cause the birds any serious delay; remember they are dependent solely on airborne insects for their food, are highly vulnerable to poor weather, and may be escaping from adverse weather conditions and may even be starving when you trap them, so do not delay them! It is thought likely that starvation is the major cause of Swift mortality, not predation.
- Do not trap Swifts in rain, hail, snow or high winds, or when such conditions are approaching. Such adverse conditions will be placing a heavy strain on the Swifts already.
- Do not trap or release Swifts at dusk or at night - they are not nocturnal birds even though they are always in flight, and this can terrorise and disorient them.
- Do not keep trapped Swifts in bags for any length of time and certainly not overnight.
Delay to Swifts' movements can prove fatal.
8. Do not trap Swifts in any form of "flick" net. Swifts are not tennis balls. The likelihood of injury to their highly developed and refined wing and bone structure is very great and the result is that newly ringed Swifts have been recovered injured or dead.
. Do not ring pulli (chicks) in the presence of their parents. Adults have been known esert their chicks in such circumstance
10. Do not ring Swifts any later than 14 days after hatching. Pulli (chicks) can be nervous and ill at ease after this period, and for reasons we do not understand, may either alarm the adult birds or even leap from the nest to crash on the ground below, where they usually fall prey to cars, cats, crows, dogs and foxes.
