Greetings from Jerusalem, whose holy sites host some of the oldest colonies of nesting swifts

Inja News جولای 22, 2026 2 minutes read

Ruth Sherlock/NPR

This spring, I was in Jerusalem reporting a story on the common swift. These scythe-winged birds have nested in the cracks of the Western Wall and other holy sites here for thousands of years.

The faithful have adapted to the swifts’ presence, prayers mixing with the bird calls. And the swifts have adapted to live with humans, raising their young in the nooks and crannies of buildings and other structures.

Every year, they migrate thousands of miles to return to the same city, town or village, where they reunite with their lifelong mates to nest. At the Western Wall, there were dozens of nests this year.

Since seeing and hearing the birds there, I notice them everywhere. And I also notice their absence — the empty, silent skies where they should be. In Israel this year, Iranian missile strikes disrupted nesting sites. And common swifts are in decline across Europe. Modern building techniques — smooth glass skyscrapers and sealed homes — are leaving them without places to nest.

Helping them is simple — a wooden box, a hollow brick. When they do nest, the birds then fly in groups at top speeds, round and around buildings, making calls so high-pitched, loud and distinctive, the behavior is known as a “screaming party.” They do it for many reasons — but one is to encourage their fledglings to take flight. Watching them inspired in me a soaring joy.

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