On January 31st 2013, Dr. Christiane Haupt brought eight swifts to Fuerteventura. After many days of shifting, she found

Sevia and Norman from Berlin

Arnaud, Leone, Raniero and Vincente from Livorno (Italy)

Czesio from Krakow (Poland)

Isis from Trieste (Italy)

ready to be set free.

The swifts were released in the well-proven starting area. A buzzard, who has a nesting site at the nearby hill, observed the starting party carefully. The starting party has already seen this bird at previous occasions. With a buzzard nearby, the starting procedure becomes less dangerous: While buzzards are no threat to the fast and maneuverable swift, their presence guarantees the absence of falcons, who are a dangerous threat, especially for young swifts that just take their first wing beats. 

Under these conditions, the team happily saw all eight swifts get up into the air and disappear in the distance quickly.

We appreciate the support of our flight sponsors, who enabled us to release a total of 37 swift at Fuerteventura this winter. There are, however, 38 swifts still under treatment in the swift clinic. The first possiblity to release them in the Frankfurt area is still out of sight and will remain so for several months. We consider an additional airlift to set them free as soon as possible, but we need financial support to do so. Can we count on you?