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FastestThings

Birds

Common swift

Protocol S1 lists two radar means for the common swift in level flapping flight. The rank uses the higher published mean, 10.6 m/s from the Bruderer subset.

Also known as Apus apus
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Top speed

Published as 10.6 m/sPublished as 10.6 m/sPublished as 10.6 m/s

Mean equivalent airspeed Ue, continuous flapping flight, Bruderer and Boldt subset, n=163. Protocol S1, 2007.

VerifiedPLOS Biology (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 1.0× Usain Bolt's 100 m world-record paceSourced · Usain Bolt, 100 m in 9.58 s. World Athletics, Berlin 2009. Averaged over the race
  • 37% of a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 8.6 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A bird's speed depends on which kind of flight was measured. A stoop, a glide and level flapping are different jobs, and this list does not pretend they are one number.

  1. The wing is a compromise

    A wing that makes lift easily is often a wing that makes drag. Birds that dash, soar or dive are shaped for one of those jobs more than the others.

  2. Read the conditions

    Radar of a stoop, a GPS glide and a flapping mean will not agree, because the bird was not doing the same thing. The ranked figure is the one the entry names.

The dive people mean is usually the peregrine falcon.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 38.2km/h23.7mph10.6m/s20.6knRanked figure

    Mean equivalent airspeed Ue, continuous flapping flight, Bruderer and Boldt subset, n=163. Protocol S1, 2007.

    Verified
    PLOS Biology (opens source in a new tab)
  2. 34.9km/h21.7mph9.7m/s18.9kn

    Mean equivalent airspeed Ue, continuous flapping flight, Lund subset, n=34. Protocol S1, 2007.

    Verified
    PLOS Biology (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Species
Apus apus
Ranked figure
10.6 m/s Ue, Bruderer subset, n=163

Head to head

Compare Common swift

Open the speed race

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Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.