WHY ARE SWIFTS NOT BLOWN AWAY BY WIND WHILE THEY SLEEP?
Swifts drink, catch insects, eat, sleep and even mate while they fly. At low altitude, they operate in a circle while they sleep to avoid drifting from their territory. Depending on prevailing conditions, they soar to heights of 3,050 meters (10,000 feet), where they are at risk of being blown off course by prevailing winds. At such high altitudes, researchers have found that swifts fly diagonally to the wind when they sleep, rhythmically changing directions every few minutes.
The rhythmic flight pattern helps them not to drift and keep within their territory. Researchers in Switzerland attached sensors to alpine swifts at their breeding grounds before the birds set off for their migratory journey to Africa and discovered that they flew nonstop for 200 days.
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