Visiting summer birds engage in cruise control to sleep while flying

Did you know that some of our visiting summer birds engage in a form of cruise control and sleep while flying? Just one of the nuggets of information from readers following our piece last week on swallows, swifts and martins.

We mentioned about swift boxes being provided in Newmarket, Co Cork, to enable these birds to breed. The Clare branch of BirdWatch Ireland has similar plans to help arrest the rapid decline in the swift population, mainly due to their difficulty in finding breeding places in cavities in buildings.

Ennis, Co Clare-based Tom Lynch, of Clare BirdWatch, says it’s time to give practical help on nesting sites for homeless swifts which are among the first of our migratory birds to arrive in early spring and the first to depart before the onset of autumn. They come to feast on the crème-de-la-crème of our insects.