Alpine Swift
Tachymarptis melba
Swifts (Apodidae) · Apodiformes (Apodiformes)
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Often mixed up with
In quizzes, players most often confuse Alpine Swift with these birds— either this species was picked by mistake, or the other way around.
| Species | Mix-ups |
|---|---|
| Pallid Swift Apus pallidus | 25 |
| Common Swift Apus apus | 20 |
| Little Swift Apus affinis | 9 |
| Common Cuckoo Cuculus canorus | 2 |
| Eurasian Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus | 2 |
Family
The Apodidae, or swifts, form a family of highly aerial birds. They are superficially similar to swallows, but are not closely related to any passerine species. Swifts are placed in the order Apodiformes along with hummingbirds.
Order
The Apodiformes is an order, or taxonomic grouping, of birds which traditionally contained three living families—the Apodidae (swifts), the Hemiprocnidae (treeswifts), and the Trochilidae (hummingbirds); however, in the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is elevated to the superorder Apodimorphae, in which hummingbirds are separated into a new order, the Trochiliformes. With nearly 450 species identified to date, it is the most diverse order of birds after the Passeriformes (the "perching" birds).