---
title: "Alpine Swift"
description: "Tachymarptis melba — Birds. The alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/alpine-swift
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Alpine Swift

> Tachymarptis melba — Birds. The alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia.

- Scientific name: *Tachymarptis melba*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `mountains` (Mountains)
- iNaturalist observations: 7387
- Wikidata: [Q321267](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q321267)
- iNaturalist taxon: [72516](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/72516)

## Names

- en: Alpine Swift
- de: Alpensegler
- es: Vencejo real
- fr: Martinet à ventre blanc
- nl: Alpengierzwaluw
- pt: Andorinhão-real
- pl: Jerzyk alpejski

## Countries with the most observations

IT (1202), ES (1191), FR (600), ZA (365), GR (355), TR (296), IN (281), RU (212), CH (186), PT (183), DZ (179), HR (122)

## Summary

The alpine swift (Tachymarptis melba) is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe, and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalayas. Like common swifts, they are migratory; the southern European population winters further south in southern Africa. They have very short legs which are used for clinging to vertical surfaces. Like most swifts, they never settle voluntarily on the ground, spending most of their lives in the air living on the insects they catch in their beaks.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_swift

## Photo

![Alpine Swift](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/alpine-swift/medium.jpg)

Photo: Mirela · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/167421169

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/alpine-swift?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).