International Swift Conferences are biennial meetings of ornithologists that focus on birds of the

swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

.Commonswift Worldwide – International Projects
/ref> The first two conventions focused exclusively on the

common swift The common swift (''Apus apus'') is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between t ...

(''Apus apus''),Commonswift Worldwide – The Common Swift Seminars, Berlin, Summaries
/ref>The Common Swift Worldwide Seminar – Berlin (in German)
/ref>
/ref> whereas the following ones broadened the scope to additional species, such as the Pallid swift (''Apus pallidus'') and the

Alpine swift The alpine swift (''Tachymarptis melba'') formerly ''Apus melba'', is a species of swift found in Africa, southern Europe and Asia. They breed in mountains from southern Europe to the Himalaya. Like common swifts, they are migratory; the souther ...

(''Tachymarptis melba''), presented in the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

2014 conference.Cambridge International Swift Conference – Summary Proceedings
/ref>

Conferences

2010 Berlin Common Swift Seminars

The first conference was held between 8 and 11 April 2010, in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, Germany. 34 participants attended the conference, hosted by the Evangelical School of

Neukölln Neukölln () is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin. It is located in the southeastern part from the city centre towards Berlin Schönefeld Airport. It was part of the former American sector under the Four-Power occupation of the city. It fea ...

. The presentations covered

scientific Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

studies of the common swift, amateur interaction with the birds, and also legal conservational aspects of protecting swifts. It was sponsored by the hosting school, and by ''APUS''life, the Commonswift Worldwide organization's online virtual magazine.

2012 Berlin Common Swift Seminars

The second conference was also held in Berlin, between 10 and 12 April 2012, again, at the Evangelical School of Neukölln. It was attended by 78 participants, from 20 countries, including

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, China,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, England, Germany, Guernsey,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, Italy,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

, Russia,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

2014 Cambridge International Swift Conference

Held between 8 and 10 April 2014 at the

Parkside Community College Parkside Community College is a secondary academy school with 600 places for children aged 11–16, situated in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. It is part of the United Learning Cambridge Cluster, along with Parkside Sixth, Coleridge Community Colle ...

, Cambridge. As mentioned above, this conference was the first in the series to cover species other than the common swift.

2016 Szczecin International Swift Conference

Held in between 7 and 10 April 2016, at the Hotel Nord in

Szczecin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...

, Poland, with 84 attendants from 23 countries: Australia, Belgium,

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

, Guernsey, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, Poland, Russia,

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and

Uzbekistan Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked co ...

.The International Swift Seminars Szczecin 2016, Summaries of the presentations
/ref> Among the presentations was Michael Tarburton's, about the Australian swiftlet, ''Aerodramus terraereginae''.

2018 Tel Aviv International Swift Conference

Held between 11 and 16 March 2018, at the Ruth Daniel Residence Hotel, in Jaffa, Israel, with 64 participants from 20 countries:

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland,

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, UK and United States.5th Swift Conference Tel Aviv March 2018
/ref> This conference was the first outside of Europe, and it introduced two more topics, in addition to the scientific and legal ones: *

Geopolitical Geopolitics (from Greek γῆ ''gê'' "earth, land" and πολιτική ''politikḗ'' "politics") is the study of the effects of Earth's geography (human and physical) on politics and international relations. While geopolitics usually refers to ...

aspects of birding, not directly related to swifts: ** Prof. Yossi Leshem of the Tel Aviv University and Amnonn Hahn, Director of The Friends Of The Swifts Association, presented the approach to use birds to enhance regional cooperation, exemplified by these three projects: **
Owls for peace: how conservation science is reaching across borders in the Middle East
*** The scientific-educational project of tracking German storks fitted with satellite transmitters, on the portal www.birds.org.il. *** The seminar "Artists for Nature – Saving the Dead Sea through art and music", A Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli Initiative, held 16–27 March 2017, on both the Israeli and Jordanian sides of the

Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank ...

. ** Ikram Quttaineh presented the Mahmiyat.ps website, in his lecture titled "Environmental awareness, from the virtual world to the real world". ** General Mansour Abu Rashid, Chairman of Amman Center for Peace and Development (ACPD), Jordan, spoke about Israeli-Jordanian cooperation, emphasizing "the war for peace". * It also covered artistic points of views of swifts: ** The photographer Lothar Schiffler's presentation on his exhibition "AIRLINES – Bird Tracks in the Air", based on the technique of Iskiography that he developed for visualization of birds' flight tracks. ** The sculptor Mark Coreth's presentation of his sculpture ''Tree of Hope''.

2022 Segovia (Spain) International Swift Conference

The 6th International Swift Conference, the first one to be held in the Iberian Peninsula, was initially planned to be held in

Segovia Segovia ( , , ) is a city in the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the Province of Segovia. Segovia is in the Inner Plateau ('' Meseta central''), near the northern slopes o ...

, 20–22 May 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

was postponed to May 2021.www.swiftsegovia2020.com
/ref> Fortunately, in January 2022, the Spanish associatio
Forogeobiosfera
retakes the organization of the conference with hope. In the end, the 6th International Swift Conference will be held on May 25-27, 2022 in Segovia (Spain) despite all the difficulties encountered along the way. Info
www.swiftsegovia2020.com

External links

Commonswift Worldwide

"Artists for Nature – Saving the Dead Sea through art and music"

Mahmiyat.ps, the Palestinian Nature Reserves web site

References

{{Reflist Ornithological conferences Swifts