Atlas of nesting birds in Bulgaria

Common Swift

(Apus apus)

Category of conservation concern (IUCN, 2020) – Least Concern

Population size: 8 500 – 20 000 pairs

Distribution pattern

Patchy distribution, totally covering the mountainous areas and the Black Sea coast. Multiple dispersed or less grouped breeding sites are found in the Danubian Plain, the Thracian Plain, the Western frontier mountains, etc. Most of the nesting grounds are found in settlements.

Big size map

Breeding distribution 2013 – 2020 – The distribution and the estimation of the population size of the species for the period 2013 – 2020 is presented –

Comparative distribution of the species compared to the first breeding birds atlas (Iankov, 2007): Breeding locality until 2007 | Breeding locality until 2007, confirmed after 2015 – | New breeding locality after 2015. – The breeding localities after 2015 are identified on a base of raw data from smartbirds.org.

Habitats

The predominant part of the population breeds in towns, villages and industrial zones, and a small part of the colonies – in natural habitats, mainly on inland cliffs and exposed rocks, and steep rocky (sea) shores. Breeds in both plains and high areas of the mountains. In the Western Rhodopes, the species is recorded to breed in coniferous forests, in old hollows in Dendrocopos major.

Trends in population changes for the period 2013-2020

Not analysed

Threats

Not analysed