White-throated Swift

About the White-throated Swift

The White-throated Swift is one of the fastest birds in North America, a crossbow silhouette that lives almost entirely on the wing, screaming along cliff faces at speeds that reportedly approach 200 miles per hour in display dives. The crisp black-and-white pattern separates it from all other swifts.

Swifts cannot perch like songbirds; they cling to vertical rock inside crevices where they nest and roost. Watching a flock carve the air over a West Texas canyon rim, all speed and scythe-shaped wings, is pure exhilaration.

These birds were photographed over Fort Davis on a June evening, slicing the sky at full speed above the old fort's cliffs.